the chief judge and where sentences cannot be appealed. You are attempting to get into his life and be quasi helpful, but he doesn’t allow it, because he knows that it is dangerous for his life and for his life values.
The lack of respect and trust tells that you are not worth respect and trust. Respect appears, if you respected your child, trust – if you trusted him. If respect for other people's powers, the credibility of someone else's identity, the sanctity of personal space of each member were valuable in your family, you do not have to worry about anything – the child will come to you to share news, success and joy. If it was not so, there is nothing to worry about too – he will never return to the family home. Maximum, he will come to your funeral. But he may not.
My husband believes that we have to teach our son to be independent right from his childhood, but I don’t want to deprive him of his childhood preferring to pamper and support him. What will be the impact on the child if the parents have different views on his upbringing?
It will be a bad impact. Both parents betray their child. So, we can say that he doesn’t have parents at all. You are both so preoccupied by the concept of "right-wrong" that you don’t pay attention to the child himself. I have a question to you, "What does your child think about this? Does he want to prolong his childhood or be independent?" Unfortunately though, your ideas on upbringing have nothing to do with your child. Your mutual relationship is more important to you than your child is and you are using him as a trump-card. Each of you plays your own rightness. "I think he’s mature!" – "But I think he is just a kid!" You don’t have to think – here is your child, ask him. Most likely, you have problems with sex, or you failed in such roles as a "lover," a "friend" and a "professional."
When mom says she doesn’t want to deprive her child of his childhood, she doesn’t want to lose it herself. The child is ready to take up independence being a year and a half, when he says that he will do everything himself. He wants to carry a bag, but it’s too heavy for him. Don’t poke his nose in his weakness and enjoy his inability to help – support his initiative, suggest carrying a bag together each by one handle. Yes, the child may undertake things he can’t do so far, he will do it improperly, he may cut himself, break something, scatter, but if it doesn’t threaten his life, let him have this experience.
My son had guests and after they left we found the loss of a big sum of money, which was hidden. My son didn’t initiate the theft himself, but he was a silent witness while his friends were searching the house. Why couldn’t he defend himself, his family and our property?
Temptation is also a sin. It’s an old truth: If I don’t know or don’t see something, it doesn’t exist for me. Talking about hidden money, your passive son and his brassy friends, you are just fencing yourself off, because you feel being accomplices in this crime as you were provoking it. If you hadn’t talked about the hidden money at home and your son hadn’t known about it, he wouldn’t have boasted of his father’s grist in the street, and nobody would have broken into your house.
Are you displeased that your son didn’t rush to defend your money? Would you want him to act as a hero? Like in the movie "Pay the other guy," where "bad people" killed the "good boy," and his parents were then proud of their son not having wet his pants. Do you need that kind of a son suicide? Besides, your son didn’t accept this money as his money, which you spend on buying him clothes and food. So why are you surprised that he wasn’t heroically defending it? It wasn’t his money. He will fight for his favorite toy car, he will cripple anyone for a broken match he uses as a gun, he will not talk to you for a week for this match, but he doesn’t think of money as of the value. Does he have anything to do with this theft? How can he demonstrate something you didn’t raise in him? How can he possibly have it, if he doesn’t have anybody except you? If the child still thinks that money lives in your pocket, he will be careless with it. If you show him the mechanism of money getting into your pocket through earning, he won’t have the slightest thought to steal it.
Laying the blame for your foolery on the child is not unique. Parents, visiting my seminars, say, "We think there is something wrong with our son." The first question: "What’s wrong with you if you have such a son? If he is an apple, then you are the apple-tree. Do you want a pear? Become a pear-tree."
We often have sweets and cookies at home. While they are in abundance, my daughter’s friends come to our house. Once my daughter came home upset and I asked her: "What’s the matter?" – "The girls sent me for sweets again." – "Why have you made it your duty – providing everybody with sweets?" – "They don’t want to be my friends without them." I told her that this was not a friendship anyway, that she had to stand up for herself, not to do what she didn’t want, not to be afraid of being alone in some situation. Nevertheless, she is afraid of loneliness and loosing relations. How can I make her more self-assured, so that she could defend herself?
In this game your daughter is a "client" and her friends are the "prostitutes" who she buys. Such relationship between your daughter and her friends tells that you behave the same way with her. When she is good for you, you give her a candy, when she is bad – you punish her. Your daughter knows how to be good for you and how to buy someone for a candy. So, everything you say speaking about your daughter is, in fact, about you: you are afraid of staying alone, loosing relations; you can’t defend yourself; you are not self-assured. That’s why your daughter doesn’t have it – she can’t possess something her parents don’t possess. I would suggest doing an inventory control of your life: see what you have, get rid of something you don’t need and develop what is necessary. Then your daughter will possess self-respect, self-assurance, communicative skills, and she will trust herself.
I think if we listen to what the children want, indulge their desires, they will ride their bikes the whole days. What do you think?
What is wrong with riding the bike the whole day? You envy, don’t you? Do you have any other ideas? Then pronounce them, suggest your plan to children, ask about their plan for the day, then you will be in contact and will be able to deal. Don’t be afraid of children riding their bike the whole day. Try doing it yourself the whole day – you won’t cope. Olympic champions can’t ride a bike the whole day without a break. Don’t scare yourself, children will ride for an hour or two and will get bored. But if you wait for them to get bored, they will never get bored – they will ride a bike until a complete breakdown.
It’s quite clear that goofing off is more pleasant than working. I taught MBA students; they were adult, smart and serious business people. I suggested, "Let’s have some rest and have a barbeque party!" Everybody was for, I didn’t have to talk anybody into it. However, they were not extremely enthusiastic about doing some work. Why do children have to have enthusiasm? Don’t take away their bikes, better involve them in something. Start with what they want and what their dreams are. If you wake children up in the morning because you have to go to work, they don’t want to wake up – they don’t have to go to work. Don’t impose your plans upon children – help them create their own. Wake them up not because you need it, but because they will go to the kindergarten, bring their favorite toy there and play with friends there.
Would you agree that some children need to be guided, even pressed and forced somewhere?
To guide means to make the direction clear. Some children need to be guided – I agree, but you can press and force only in case you want to get their resistance and protest.
§ 2.2. Delegating
Delegating is the only way to operate in management. Related to upbringing, it’s the main instrument to form the responsibility for one’s life. The first thing we delegate to our children is their baby potty, then a spoon, then let them get dressed by themselves and so on. Delegating finishes when we see that our children
