I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room a job that should have taken 15 miutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough...to say "NO" when I knew you would hate me for it.
Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.
We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work.
We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time were were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16..
Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
- Author Unknown
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Are you implementing any of these ideas? If not, why not? If you are more interested in being your child's best friend, if you have a strong need to be accepted and loved by your child, or don't have the ability to follow through on some of these items because it's too hard and it's easier to just let them do what they want to do, then it is important that you take a close look at that aspect of yourself. It's these attributes of parenting that distinguishes whether a person is a good parent versus a great parent!
I would like to add the importance of being aware of what is going on with your child when they are on their computer. Stay tuned in our up-coming "Something To Think About..." newsletters addressing tips for parents regarding "On-line Predators", speaking to your children about sex, are your children prone for gangs, and much, much more!
