Word: parental
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...best policy. Well, what's the second-best policy? Omission, because kids are so much better off not knowing everything about you. Authority flows more easily when there is some mystery about who you were as a child as opposed to who you are as the older and wiser parent they now know...
...never became my daughter's friend. It's tempting to do so when your offspring is crossing over from the things of a child to the things of an adult. I ruled out exchanging any confidences in the crossover areas of drugs, drink and sex, although a parent should counsel a child not to have any of the latter until true intimacy attaches or at age 25, whichever comes later...
...knew Courtney wanted to hang with the kids who were most likely to be fast-tracking every experience. She wanted to do what everyone else was doing, to which a parent can sometimes only say, "No, you can't," and to the follow-up of "Why not?," "Because I'm your mother, and I say so." I might not stop her, but I would certainly slow her down. I didn't go the confession route, either. If you let them confess and you don't put them under house arrest, you are admitting your own waning authority, which even kids...
Trust me, nothing jolts a parent's nervous system more than the thought that his or her child may be using illicit drugs. Even when suspicious, parents are often afraid to ask. Will we alienate our children by accusing them falsely? Yet if we don't speak to them, how will they know that we are beside them if they need our help...
...cops on Chicago's North Shore see that kind of enabling behavior all the time. "Parents tell me they never go into their kids' rooms--then they wonder why they have a problem," says Officer Harty. No student has been convicted of a drug felony at New Trier in recent memory. When a kid does get caught in the prosperous communities of the North Shore, police and prosecutors frequently come up against formidable legal talent. "The first reaction of any parent is protection," says John Fay, juvenile officer for the Glencoe police department. "They hire the best because they...