Who is the parent?

I will be the first to tell you that I often pull my hair out in response to the behavior of my children. Try as I might to instill positive values born of a solid Midwestern upbringing, I will still experience the same fits, backtalk and frustration that most parents deal with in the attempt to raise children to be productive and respectful members of society.

Perhaps one of my biggest challenges in this endeavor is dealing with the influences of other people's children. These children are not inherently bad, they just have different boundaries than my children do, or no boundaries at all. Unfortunately, many of the children that influence my children are treated as adults, afforded the same privileges and luxuries than many of us did not experience until we had reached adulthood and could earn them ourselves.

While this is frustrating, we do have to learn to get along with others, right? So, how do you strike a balance between setting your own boundaries in your home and allowing your children to interact with others whose boundaries may not be the same? In reality? One day at a time.

I won't take the position that I know everything when it comes to parenting. In fact, I have made a lot of mistakes and I'm not done raising kids, yet. But, I do see a lot of things going on around us where parents are forgetting that they are the parent and the child is, in fact, a child. It is imperative that we as parents do not befriend our children, but instead teach them how to survive and prosper in a world that does not revolve around them.

Check back soon and we will start to examine some of these common phenomenons and possible methods for bringing respect back to the parent-child relationship.