As a parent I had very fixed ideas about how to raise a child correctly.
Give them firm rules to abide by until they got old enough to understand logic.
There is no point in negotiating with a child before they at least can understand instructions and communicate their thoughts to you.
That usually doesn't happen until they are about 5.
Yeah, I know that they talk clearly well before that and that they also express what they want clearly but they don't have any experience to go on regarding the negative results of certain actions until about 5.
You may find differently and not all children develop at the same rate.
I think it's a bit like boot camp in the military.
The purpose of boot camp is to train you to do what you are told to do immediately and without argument.
Once you have the principle of discipline down then you can be allowed to make more autonomous decisions.
It's the same with children.
Firstly they must learn to do what they are told instantly if not sooner without discussion or argument.
When that is locked in, between 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 you can start easing up and allow more autonomy.
Without that you get this:
While Michael is right about the joys of having kids it's not something that I have ever regretted in fact it's one of the real joys in my life.
Especially now that we have grandchildren as well. Totally love it.
Unfortunately there is a whole generation of kids being raised by older parents who feel they have to protect the little darlings from anything that might hurt them.
And they also feed their egos to the point that these kids think that they are geniuses and right in every opinion they can think up.
Wrong folks.
The word genius is bandied about people who don't understand that just because someone is smarter than them does not make them a genius.
The reason for this is that everyone thinks they are smarter than average, which just proves they don't understand maths or statistics.
We actually just had an unbelievable example from our dopey politicians.
They have just proposed that the minimum wage should be a percentage of the median wage for the whole country.
All that does is push the median wage up and so the minimum rises until everyone is on the same wage as the CEO.
This will cause a massive rise in unemployment to keep the median wage down unless these same idiots decide that the unemployment benefit should also track the medium wage.
Sorry, off on a rant.
I really have issues with people who propose things that are clearly unworkable which shows that it's a though bubble not a thought through idea.
Anyway, back on track.
It's important for every child's future that they understand what discipline means so they can be self-disciplined.
They need to understand that there are consequences for their actions.
They need to understand that not everything they do will work, look good, sound good, read well or be correct first time every time. Sometimes they have to learn to do things one step at a time.
They have to understand that the world does not owe them anything.
But they also need to understand that there are opportunities all around them and that they already have the ability to take advantage of them.
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