Recent family discussions have prompted me to think about this a lot lately. Now before I say anything further on the subject I am not currently a parent and this is completely based on my personal opinions.
I often think about how I would handle certain situations with my kids when and if I decide to have any that is (my mind is not quite made up on the matter, all I know is that I'm definitely not in a hurry).
I think part of my hesitation has to do with the way kids are these days.
They are much more out-spoken which can both be good and bad. On the one hand it's good to speak your mind early on (saves you on therapy later on). But on the other hand there's the whole respecting your elders argument.
How do you speak your mind and stand up for yourself without offending anyone and sounding out of line to your parents?. I don't think there's any right or wrong answer to that.
There's a lot of factors that could be weighed into it whether it's, the environment and the people you surround yourself with, the way you were raised, the personality of the parent or simply the generational gap and culture.
In the end though I believe it all comes down to communication and the involvement of the parent. Those two elements are especially key when it comes to teenagers.
One of the other points of the family discussion was punishment methods mainly loss of possessions due to perceived bad behaviour.
Personally I'm really not a fan of this method, it's effective but only when used in moderation. If it's used everytime, it stops being a threat and it loses its punch because it is expected.
And eventually it leads to resentment on the part of the child. Now I have no way of knowing what kind of parent I will become (again if at all), but I know one thing for sure, I would try my best to have a more balanced approach, be firm but still allow self expression. Of course that's easier said then done, but I think it'll be much more effective in the end.
Thus endeth my lesson in psychology, hope you enjoyed it 'cause it doesn't happen often lol.
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