I’ve always been the softie in my relationships when it comes to the kids. But I did realize that I wasn’t doing my kids any favors by going easy on them. They need to learn to hear the word “No’ since the world will tell them that too and they need to learn to cope with it. I had always thought, well the world will be the soon enough telling them no, I want them to hear yes now… but saw the folly of that. I can be friendly with my kids without being their friend. It’s worked.

For me it would be the United Front of Parents at position Number 1, which would include kids not coming first all the time and helping them to understand that Mum and Dad are a complete unit who are openly affectionate to each other, not two disparate parts that they can play off against each other.

Consistency, consistency, consistency… allowing for a gradual learning curve one step at a time towards allowing them to do the big things.

Having fun but retaining the element of authority. As I said above, far too many parents want to be best buddies with their kids and this impedes their ability to make the right choices when implementing the learning curve because they dont want to have unpleasant confrontations. As a parent, you have to be the responsible one and sometimes that means saying ‘no’.

We are still learning too, and found this article and comments to be most helpful.
.-= Tim´s last blog ..A New Parent’s Guide To Saving Time and Money =-.