Posted by Dinah on May 14, 2005, at 14:26:26
Who's nearly been all the way through it?
Who's just at the beginning?
Kids are all so different, and parenting styles are too.
What is your kid(s) like as a son/daughter? What sort of parent do you like to think you are? (friend, authority figure, etc.) What sort are you really.
I have one son, aged nine. He's a sensitive spaniel of a boy. Definitely not a terrier. He feels things really deeply, but rarely expresses them. Our challenge with him is to let him be a kid. We're delighted when he's naughty.
I think of myself as a by the books Montessori mother. I knew I wanted to be a different sort of parent than my own parents, so I read all the books I could read. My husband used to say that he could see me mentally turning the pages of the book to the appropriate topic.
My discipline is almost purely natural consequences and just talking to my son about why something is right or wrong. He's got a pretty strong sense of right and wrong himself, and little else is generally needed.
Where I probably could use a bit of work as a parent is being more parental. The thing I brought from my parents to my own parenting is probably not being clear enough on the separation of generations, and being a bit too much like a buddy. I think that's an easy trap to fall into with an only child. It's all too easy to think of the child as an extra member of the family.
poster:Dinah
thread:497720
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/child/20050226/msgs/497720.html