Strollerderby

Hey! I'm a socially inept loser and I've NEVER been on Jerry Springer!

If the valuable lesson this guy feels he learned was that "evil slimy greens must be choked down if you want to play", his parents really owe him an apology. And a few sessions with a nutritionist, if not a shrink.

My husband used to share this guys opinion of child rearing.  When we first got together we had a discussion involving his son from his first marriage that went something like this:

"How do you discipline A.J?"

"We usually send him to his room, or we spank him."

"Not in my house you don't"

"He's my son."

"And this is my house, you hit that boy, you better hope to god you can run faster than me because if you hit him, I WILL hit you. And I can bet I hit a whole hell of a lot harder than an eight year old does. "

That was the end of that discussion.  The look on his face when he realized I was serious was priceless.

Hitting your children as punishment doesn't teach them respect, it teaches them fear and it teaches them that using fear is a good way to get what you want. Is that really the lesson we should be teaching?

Parenting needs to be consistent.  What ever you use for discipline, be consistent.  The children need to know what is coming.  The consequences for their actions should be the same every time.  Inconsistency is what harms children.  Never knowing if they will get away with it or not is what makes them continue to try.  And believe me when I tell you that unless you are consistent, they will outlast you by miles.  AND the more inconsistent you are the more stubborn they become and then I get them in my class and it makes life h---.

I'm totally going about this stay-at-home dad business the wrong way. Apparently instead of shopping for dinner and cleaning the kitchen and quelling tantrums and mastering that $#@! sippy cup and passing on language and praying to dear lord sweet jebus