How to REALLY train up a child

[B. de Corbin]

Parenting advice that doesn't require PVC pipes - give it here!

[Rowanwood]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

I treat my kid like a drunk person...you know, someone who deserves respect and love, but doesn't always make the best decisions on their own.



(It's more complicated than that, of course, but I love putting it like that.)

[thalassa]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

My goal is to raise future adults. Like, the one's I wouldn't mind as neghbors, not the ones that end up in jail for holding up a 7-11. As such, I try not to lie about things they will one day need factual information on without ripping away the beautiful rose-colored glasses of childhood.

[Yorin]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

I'm not a mom yet, but one tip I remember my mom telling my pregnant cousins was instead of giving them fancy teething stuff, give them larger peeled carrots to chew on. That way they had something to chew on, and were getting healthy nutrients at the same time.

[LaneyM]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

I come from a community, which is wonderful when you have kids. They learn how to be kind and help out with each other and the community. They also don't seem to have as much drama as those children that are raised alone, maybe because it isn't all about them. I think the greatest gift having a community gives my kids is freedom. Kids can run around and be kids together without all the fear that seems to follow single kids.

From my perspective, the main thing I believe in is to keep them safe without taking life's excitement away from them. That's the balancing act that we all mess up with from time to time.

[Rowanwood]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

I'm not a mom yet, but one tip I remember my mom telling my pregnant cousins was instead of giving them fancy teething stuff, give them larger peeled carrots to chew on. That way they had something to chew on, and were getting healthy nutrients at the same time.

When you do have kids...don't do this unless you enjoy the Heimlich maneuver. Carrots break. Teething babies can't really chew.

My kid choked on a little chunk of apple once. I don't wish that freak out on anyone.

[Gleb]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

From my own experience, parents shouldn't tell their children something like "Don't play with those kids!" before even getting to know them.
It's just not right.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

When you do have kids...don't do this unless you enjoy the Heimlich maneuver. Carrots break. Teething babies can't really chew.

My kid choked on a little chunk of apple once. I don't wish that freak out on anyone.

We gave them dill pickles... Soft enough, and crunchy/chewy/cold.

- - - Updated - - -

It isn't enough to love your kids, you have to also like them.

In fact, if you like them, love may not even be necessary (but loving will be very, very easy).

When people love others, they make all kinds of excuses for hurting them, but, when they LIKE somebody, they enjoy time with them, have common interests, and treat them with respect.

[thalassa]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

Let your child get hurt (not run over by a car or electrocuted, just a boo boo or ten). Let them be cold. Let them feel pain. Let them lose. Let them be angry. Let them feel hunger and thirst. Let their feelings get hurt.

Teach them to deal with these conditions. Teach them to name them, to cope with them, to fix time or work through with them. But don't let them go out into the world without having them as experiences. Because fixing everything so they never have unpleasantness is bad parenting.

[Medusa]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

If I had a kid I would give them candy to shut up. I would give them Nyquil. I would give them whiskey. I would give them Zanax. And probably opium.

Which is why I haz no kids.

[KahlanAmnell]

Re: How to REALLY train up a child

With acceptance.