Discipline

Disciplining as a new parent can be tough. Am I being too strict? Not strict enough? Am I raising a spoiled child? Am I breaking their spirit? Am I providing proper consistency and structure? Do I discipline or pick my battles?

How do you know when how you parent is going to raise responsible, loving children into responsible, loving adults? That's my goal. Do I have to wait until they are adults to see if what I am doing is going to work or do I have some indication that it is now?

As a parent, you are going to make mistakes. When I make a mistake, I apologize to my children and move on (just as I expect them to apologize when they need to). I expect basic manners and considerations from them. I don't think I ask too much. Sometimes I wonder if I am asking enough of them. I believe parents need to have expectations for their children and I don't think enough parents do anymore. If I don't have expectations for them, how will they learn to have expectations for themselves?

Tonight I was reading about a family constitution written by a man named Scott Gale who created it to help with his family issues. It was very interesting reading.