Brats, Be Gones

The Diaper Diva has found another wonderful article for her readers. This one is on manners, and, ladies, we all know there are parents out there who should be hit over the head with an etiquette book.

But since that wouldn't be polite, I suggest you give them a copy of this Parents magazine article and encourage them to read it. Tell them you read it yourself and picked up a few helpful hints. (It is full of great resources for further study on child discipline.)

The article reaffirms some of the themes I have been pushing: the problems with society's overemphasis on self-esteem. Those parents who don't want to correct their kids because they fear it might hurt their self-image are in for a wild ride as the children get older.

Moreover, the consensus among experts interviewed in this article is that the main reason parents don't discipline their children is because the parents are too tired.

Too tired??

C'mon. If we are too tired to discipline our children then we have to lighten our load! If we don't have time to teach our children how to speak politely and share their toys, if we don't have time to explain why they can't hit their playmates or sass their elders, then we're doing them -- not to mention ourselves and society at large -- a huge disservice.

Of course disciplining our children is tiring. Parenting is hard work. Really, really hard work. But this is a huge part of the job we accepted when we decided to have kids. Aren't we failing to live up to our end of the bargain when we decide it's too much trouble to teach them right from wrong?

My Hendrick can be a little bratty sometimes, and I admit there are times I struggle with the right response. It's certainly easier to ignore his impertinence when I should be reaffirming the rules. Even at his age, he doesn't like to be put in his place and tries to get away with whatever he can.

But I tell myself it's for his own good, for the good of our family, to run a strict household. There can be no greater reward for all this effort than to be able to say years from now we lived in a peaceful house, where everyone spoke kindly and treated each other with respect.

Maybe that sounds like some pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, but we have to at least try.

Here's the link to the Parents magazine article: http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/1171577759726.xml