Parenting 101

Wikipedia ~ The Three Bears (in Public Domain)

Remember the story of  Goldilocks and The Three Bears?

Goldilocks visited the Bears’ house while they were out and sampled their chairs, their porridge, and their beds.

Papa’s Bears chair was too big, his porridge too hot, and his bed too hard for Goldie.

Mama Bear’s chair was too big, her porridge too cold, and her bed too soft.

But Baby Bear’s chair, porridge, and bed were just right.

Let’s fast forward to the 21st Century and take a look at parenting skills that are a bit too HARD:

Your Child Isn’t Fat, She’s Beautiful! (Duck and Goose)

And now let’s take a quick peak at parenting skills that are a bit too SOFT:

Two Year Olds Are Not Adults (Mirror, Mirror)

Wikipedia ~ The Three Bears (in Public Domain)

Parenting 101 requires that parents be firm enough to support their off-spring and give them a healthy start on life, without being so hard on them that they lie bruised and broken before they’ve had a chance to learn the ropes.

Smacking a 3-year-old in the head while calling her a fat, hideous, moron errs on the side of being TOO HARD.

Allowing tiny tyrants to “call the shots” errs on the side of being TOO SOFT.

What we want to achieve with child-rearing is that perfect balance, that happy medium, that spot where Goldie says, “Aah, that’s just right.”

Quote:  You can learn many things from children . . . how much patience you have, for instance.

Related posts:  The Portable Classroom * Get Out!!! * Stop Abdicating Responsibility * The Farcical Campaign Against Corpulence & Being An Accountable Human