When it comes to not having your nice stuff completely destroyed by small people, there are basically two types of parents: the removers and the repeaters. Some parents (and I am definitely in this camp) just do not feel like fighting the natural destructo whirlwind that is children, and so removing anything you cannot bear to lose is the fallback position. For the other parents (and they are usually the type with a shoes off in the house policy), some force of nature has endowed them with the strength and patience to repeat “Don’t touch that” five million times a day. I am decidedly not one of these people. It has just always seemed simpler to me to remove the temptation in the first place. I once asked the mom of one of my childhood friends how she and her husband had managed such healthy and drama-free relationships with all of their children. She said that their parenting philosophy was pretty straight-forward: save “no” for the really big stuff--drugs, booze, sex--and have a pret
ty relaxed attitude about just about everything else. From what I could see, it worked like gangbusters and I have remembered that conversation for thirty years. It has gotten me through some tough parent times, but you have to continually re-evaluate and revise your methods. In Nancy White Carlstrom’s Better Not Get Wet, Jesse Bear, I think they should stop giving him stuff that sprays water if they want him to stay dry. It’s a no-brainer. Duh.
P.S. Happy Earth Day, Rhys! Welcome!
http://www.amazon.com/Better-Not-Get-Jesse-Bear/dp/0689810555
http://www.nancywhitecarlstrom.com/meet.html
