Very thoughtful piece. I’ve raised three absolutely amazing children who are all strong, independent amazing adults. As a working mom, I was never a helicopter mother and I let my children navigate life on their own, telling them if they ever had a problem, they could come to me. Each one did at some point and after listening to their co…
Very thoughtful piece. I’ve raised three absolutely amazing children who are all strong, independent amazing adults. As a working mom, I was never a helicopter mother and I let my children navigate life on their own, telling them if they ever had a problem, they could come to me. Each one did at some point and after listening to their concerns, I gave them the following options: one, they could try to handle it on their own (usually it was an issue with a classmate that could be addressed with their teacher); or, two, I could go with them to discuss the matter; or, third option, I could go address the matter on their behalf. One of my daughters at age 10 had me go with her to see her teacher. My son at age 4 asked me to speak to his teacher on my own for him. Other than these and maybe a couple other times I’ve now forgotten, my kids handled their problems on their own. (My son recently told me about an incident when he was 7 that I never knew about — a trip to the principal’s office where he received licks for something that he didn’t do. I would have been very upset with the injustice and especially with the corporal punishment, which is probably why he didn’t tell me 14 years ago.)
Very thoughtful piece. I’ve raised three absolutely amazing children who are all strong, independent amazing adults. As a working mom, I was never a helicopter mother and I let my children navigate life on their own, telling them if they ever had a problem, they could come to me. Each one did at some point and after listening to their concerns, I gave them the following options: one, they could try to handle it on their own (usually it was an issue with a classmate that could be addressed with their teacher); or, two, I could go with them to discuss the matter; or, third option, I could go address the matter on their behalf. One of my daughters at age 10 had me go with her to see her teacher. My son at age 4 asked me to speak to his teacher on my own for him. Other than these and maybe a couple other times I’ve now forgotten, my kids handled their problems on their own. (My son recently told me about an incident when he was 7 that I never knew about — a trip to the principal’s office where he received licks for something that he didn’t do. I would have been very upset with the injustice and especially with the corporal punishment, which is probably why he didn’t tell me 14 years ago.)
Thank you, Marion! These are really thoughtful suggestions -- a way to kind of "stair-step" how much they need help. I'm going to have to use this.