It’s your fault – another Parenting Myth
When you see a misbehaving child running wild around the store, what is your first thought? If you’re like me, you’re thinking, “Where are the parents?? They ought to be controlling their kid!” The assumption is that when a child misbehaves, the parents are responsible. If the parents were doing their job, then the child [...]
I could’ve been a perfect parent, and other Parenting Myths
While having lunch with a friend last week, we have kids the same age in college, the conversation inevitably turned to talking about our kids when they were little. “There are a lot of things I did wrong when my kids were little,” my friend said. “If I could go back, I would do things [...]
How can anyone afford to have kids?
While chatting with my mechanic, he mentioned being married for just a couple of years. “Any kids?” I asked. “No, we can’t afford them,” he replied. Do kids costs that much? In an affluent and commercialized society, we are bombarded by ads for $500 strollers, $50 infant outfits, $5 a jar of “organic” baby food. [...]
Letting go of failures
Family Life Today is one of my favorite radio programs. (You can listen to it online, or download the podcast to listen to it any time.) On the program few days ago on “Launching Your Teen into Life”, Dennis Rainey, the host, said something that resonated with me. “…I think there’s a tendency with all [...]
Parenting is an instinct and other myths
Myths often have a bit of truth about them, and that’s why we often buy into them. The problem with living with myths is that we end up frustrated with expectations that do not become reality. We beat ourselves up for not having a Martha Stewart house, or not having a HGTV landscaped garden, or [...]