Congratulate the New Family Mom!

RECENTLY, the New Family Mom has taken up circuit training with Dad. She needs to be congratulated on her willingness to do it and her efforts while doing it.

Please drop her a note of encouragement. And over the coming six weeks, ask her about her progress.

Quote of the Day

"PLAY with your sister. That is why we had two." Dad's terse command to EJ recently.

Near constant demands from the Twins make it difficult to do much else (e.g. chores) other than interact with the kids. That occasionally frustrates Dad.

In EJ's defense, he only wants huggy-lovey when he gets up and before he goes down to bed.

And all of the time in between.

Parenting Styles

THE previous post prompted Dad to recall the four parenting styles he learned about while enrolled in Honors Psychology. This graph sum them up.

You can view a bigger picture at the link.
http://naylandpsych.weebly.com/parenting-styles.html





The authoritative style, of course, is the one involved and informed parents usually strive for. Often this style is confused by its adjacent style, authoritarian. But they are distinct. The authoritarian style imposes rigidity for its own sake and the parent shows little warmth. Think of Dwight Shrute's parents. To distinguish between the two, one needs sufficient information about the parent and his interactions with his kids. If one were to only observe a brief encounter of an authoritative parent and child one could easily presume that the parent is authoritarian. Seeing a parent discipline a child in public, for example, is not enough data to to categorize the parent as either authoritarian or authoritative.

Given this, it is better to reserve judgement than share one's opinion.

What is Geniunely Surprising About This is...

...that the person that passed this along thought the NF Dad would find it surprising. He did not.

Christine Carter on kid's chores

The venom spewed at her in the comments at the site originally sent to Dad is truly aweful.

http://www.greatschools.org/parenting-dilemmas/7390-christine-carter-chores-for-kids-parenting-tips-video.gs?cpn=20130602weeklysend

He gets that different parents have different parenting styles and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. But then again, he has also observed a very close correlation between well behaved, responsible, mature children and the structure their parents impose on them. Though he has not surveyed those children, he would be easily persuaded that they are happier and better socially adjusted than their peers.

All kids benefit from structure and responsibility. Some (like Dad when he was 12) need more of it, others less. But left on their own, children will not achieve their optimal potential.

And that is acceptable for some parents and their children. And Dad is okay with that.

Pizza!

PEPPERONI Pizza doesn't need a reason.

Mom insists that Dad leave the pepperoni on top so that it can bake up nice and crisp.

Interrogation

"I didn't do it. It wasn't me. You have no proof."

Buggy Explores

Bugaboo spent some time exploring recently.

All gone. I am now bored.

I'm outta here. Blame EJ for the mess.