"One of the most frustrating aspects of parenting is having to force your kids to do something they will undoubtedly enjoy. The effort required to get them out of the house for football practice, a museum visit or a swim at the beach can often outweigh any potential reward (a temporary reprieve from holiday boredom, for example). Couples talk about love languages."
"There are, of course, perils with this approach. Our youngest came home from primary school a few weeks ago with a wounded hand after being told she had to complete 50 lengths of the monkey bars to be admitted to an exclusive club. She was not comforted when I suggested, given the evidence, that this might be a club for morons. The first rule of Moron Club, I reminded her, is don't try to join Moron Club."
Parents frequently expend more effort persuading children to leave the house for activities like sports, museums, or the beach than any temporary benefit might justify. Children express refusal through a range of behaviors from blunt refusal to full meltdowns and temporary, highly specific vision loss that makes clothes and shoes appear invisible. Parenting often aims to teach children to say yes to vegetables, lessons, and experiences that push comfort zones. This approach can cause harm when coercion is enforced. Growing emphasis on consent calls for empowering children to say no. Social pressure and marketing reinforce a cultural bias toward saying yes.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]