Being a parent isn’t something you can fully study for. Of course, you can read books and get advice from others you trust. But, in reality, most of parenting becomes on-the-job training as it plays out in real time.
One thing parents can hugely benefit from is jointly setting long-term parenting goals before a bunch of standards are set and important tactical parenting decisions are made. That’s the purpose of this article.
Continue reading “Ultimate Parenting Goals”
My wife and I decided early in our marriage that one of our most important responsibilities as parents was preparing our children for the day when they leave home and live on their own. Enabling them to be ready to make important decisions for themselves. Knowing how to react in stressful or dangerous situations. Effectively managing their own money. The list goes on and on. But the way we mentally visualized this parenting challenge with the “giving more rope” analogy.
I know, teenagers can be loud and obnoxious. But when your kids get into high school and especially once they start driving, it’s easy to lose track of where they are and who they are hanging out with. It won’t seem like it initially, but if you’re lucky, your kid’s teenage friends will want to come to your house to hang out. And you can possibly influence this if you try.
Continue reading “You Want the Teenagers to Hangout at Your House”
The concept of defining and refining a System is something I regularly stressed with my girls during their high school and college years. We discovered that each of our three daughters had different methods for planning, organizing, studying, remembering and deciding. What works well for me and my wife didn’t necessarily work at all work for a given daughter. One of the most important things we wanted to help them accomplish during their high school and college years was to develop and refine a system that worked well for them.
My wife and I found this to be a fabulous concept to incorporate into our parenting practice. We used it in conjunction with explaining decision-making best practices to our kids. Starting when they were as early as about 13 years old and regularly reinforcing it all the way through the day they left home for college.
Continue reading “What’s The Worst Thing That Could Happen?”
Gordon Daugherty 