Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 April 2006 08:49:06
Parenting is, I think, one of those things which you don't formally learn, but rather pick up through life by watching what other people do and then trying to follow their example or do the exact opposite as appropriate; listening to the bits of advice that you can pick up as you go along but primarily through following your intuition and bumbling on through; learning from your mistakes with.
At the moment I am v. much going through the bumbling along stage and it's difficult because I'm in largely unchartered waters. Third Party is at a certain age, (ok I know with kids everything is a certain age), and I'm finding it tough. She is just entering that stage where the boundaries are not just being pushed but ram raided & I am having to find the balance between the strict parent (which I can't do v. well) & the liberal mum who lets her kid run riot, (which I'm actually not alot better at than the strict parent). So I go for the liberal mum who explains things and has guidelines for Third Parties own safety rather than strict rules.
Recent evidence shows that this approach either works extremely well or fails totally. I wish there were a middle ground. Still in someways I'd not have it any other way because at the moment what she is actually doing is showing me she is a "normal" kid & that in itself is quite comforting.