Our six children are grown and gone and most of them live at least six hours from us. The years they were home were a roller coaster of us being broke, my being pregnant, and us being the "
uncool" parents. Our children did not have stylish shoes, clothes or money in their pockets. They ate what I cooked, and we made them go to church and Sunday school. If they got into trouble at school, they prayed that we did not find out, as there was no question whose "
side" we would be on. Mostly, our offspring stayed out of trouble. Because we live in a very small town, they were able to participate in dance, sports, band, scouts and youth groups. After they all started school, I worked as the school secretary for 23 years, so I had the same time off they did.
During those years, I heard every excuse from parents for their child's misbehavior: "
She had to be late to class because her boyfriend broke up with her," or "
Yes, he did have my permission to miss school yesterday. Yes, that is my signature," or "
My daughter would never have talked back to that teacher if he hadn't given her an F on the test." It went on and on. My conclusion is that many parents would rather face down a teacher, principal, child's boss or another parent than face down their own child! They are afraid of them - afraid they won't be considered the cool parents or their best buddies. In our family, we were too busy working towards feeding, clothing and sheltering them. We didn't have room for all the other drama! Thank you, Dr. Laura for being a voice of reason in a world in which parents are too lazy to be consistent or too afraid to risk being unpopular with their kids.
Tori
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