Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Parenting 101

Every now and then I meet someone with their kid(s) and think, "man, that person (those people) really should've taken parenting classes before they had kids." And I'm sure at some point, the same thing has been thought about us.

But if you think about it, what if parenting 101 was mandatory for pre-pregnancy? Who would make the rules? What would it be like?

If we were in, oh, say, on the southern west coast, the class may be something like this: "Let your offspring be free to be themselves, don't limit them with rules, but allow them to explore their personalities vocally or physically. Never say 'no' as it will be a detriment to their inner being. Shower your children with all the material things you can grab, but never assume that you are wise enough or smart enough to education your own children. We have people to do that for you."

Then in another southern area of the country, the class may be more like, "Children are to be seen and not heard. Hard spankings are very much allowed and expected or you will be punished. Teach your children that people who are different from us are to be ridiculed and rejected." And so on.

Yeah, no one is perfect and no one here has the best answer for how to raise our children. I guess I'll stick to the "as mentioned in the Bible" tactic and see how that works out for us.

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