“Wow Levi! That’s amazing! You did that all by yourself? You are the best!”
Fortunately the last few decades have seen a rise in positive compassionate parenting. Many people whose parents were critical punitive or cold are able to show healthy affection and positive regard to their own youngsters — thanks to the myriad of new books and classes on parenting. Moreover parents are more aware than ever that their words and actions can have lasting impact on their children.
As a result even if they can’t always control outbursts of temper or occasions of poor judgment they at least feel guilty about them. Healthy remorse helps keep parents on track trying hard to reduce episodes of verbal abuse insensitivity impatience irritability and other normal (but harmful) reactions to the inevitable frustrations of childrearing. So good for all of us! At least we’re trying.
Gone too Far
But perhaps we’re trying too hard. It seems that some of us have gone too far in our efforts to be “nice” to our children. In fact we may have become so afraid of hurting our youngsters’ feelings that we’re afraid to say “no” to set limits or to apply discipline. We don’t want them to feel unhappy even for a short time. The result can be a houseful of out-of-control children.
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