Today, if you are inclined to raise a human being who is comfortable with (and confident in) them self and well equipped to lead a happy, morally responsible, financially empowered life, there are truths your child needs to know.
You will need to define those points of access because they differ for each person. Continue paying attention to your children. Learn what their interests are, and lend your perspectives and your resources to their interests.
Incorporate less force and more flow, and remember that structure and force are not the same things.
You can help your child to be goal oriented and trustworthy without forcing them to complete tasks that you set for them.
Make efforts to parent from a space of respect for children’s rights to understand themselves and to feel confident in their abilities to eventually guide themselves.
This means we have to be both honest and firm with them. But we also need to listen to them, to give them access to the full story, and make sure they know that they have room to decide their truths for their own selves.
We refuse to be
What you wanted us to be;
We are what we are:
That’s the way (way) it’s going to be.
Robert “Bob” Marley, Babylon System
Come on over to my little cottage on Everyday Feminism to read the rest of this post.