Should You Be Your Child's Best Friend?
Written and Published by Tanya Provines at Smashwords
Cover Design by Tanya Provines
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
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Should You Be Your Child's Best Friend?
Should parents be best friends, authority figures, or both to their children? Only in recent years has this question plagued parents. In the past, parents were clearly expected, by society, to be authority figures to their children. Being friends with their children was not even a question to ponder. Parents who spoiled, or were too gentle with, their children were scorned and ridiculed by their peers. Children were expected to do what they were told and not talk back to their parents, teachers, or anyone in authority.
Extreme cases of this style of parenting sometimes led to child abuse. An inability to form loving connections to others was another consequence of this strict, authoritarian, style of parenting. Today, there is a growing trend for parents to be more worried that their children may get mad at them, or not like them, than they are concerned that their children learn to practice self-control and to respect authority.
Is this new trend in parenting good for children and society in general? The answer to this question will give us the answer to the first question. The effects of parents being friends only to their children can be observed at an early age. Most of us have seen examples of this in grocery stores when small children are observed throwing temper tantrums to get what they want. The "friendly" parents are observed bargaining with these children or giving in to their screaming toddlers rather than standing firm and clearly stating the impending consequences of such disruptive behavior.