Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean from Australia
Listening to Chemda talking about her parents (and, to a lesser extent, Keith talking about his parents) just serves to remind me that as a parent of two young children (five and two) I have to be open to both of them establishing their own identity in the years to come. It's not my place to trample on their individuality nor prevent them from discovering who they are within themselves and I am comfortable with that. My role and my goal is to love them and accept them.
Both Lauren (through that blisteringly beautiful episode back in January) and Chemda have gifted me with that philosophy and I will always treasure it.
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I've learned this lesson as well, and my husband and I take the raising of our children (5, 3.75 an 2.5) very seriously. We are dedicated to having a ton of fun with our children and spending a ton of time with them. We want them to have security and know they are loved. I feel like this firm foundation will help them know who they are and make better choices.
We have things that of course we'd rather they not do, but in the end, there isn't much we can do about that...so we want them to know they can always talk to us and ask for guidance and hopefully they'll make the right choices. Now, I'm not one of those parents that tells their kids, "if you and your friends are going to drink, do it under my roof" or any of that...we are balancing disipline (having to sit at the table for dinner, not talking back, etc) with good times.
When I hear Keith talk about his dad I get chills because mine was a lot like that as well (though not as much into the object lessons). I'm glad that I am now able to look back objectively at that childhood and learn the lessons of what not to do.