Hi Everyone!
My good friend D has an 18 year-old son, a 16 year-old son and a 10 year-old daughter. They are polite, respectful, well-rounded, engaging and delightful (words not many would use to describe teens/tweens!). When you see one kid with these personality traits you may think it’s just their personality. Three? That’s got to be good parenting.
I recently cornered D to find out what her “trick” was to raising such great kids. “OK, here’s the truth,” she started, as I leaned in, “I treat them with respect. I try to speak to them in ways that I would like to be spoken to. I try not to embarrass them. I try not to nag. I chose my battles wisely. I set clear boundaries but value their input. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I lose my cool and there are definitely parenting moments I wish I could take back. But, for the most part, I just try to respect them. And I guess because of this, they respect me too.”
So here’s to good kids and good parenting – no gimmicks, no tricks. Just good ol’ fashion mutual respect.
Question: Speaking of parenting advice, do you think there is any valuable information we can take away from the “Tiger Mom” philosophy?
Best,
Heather