Growing up, I always thought that my parents were way more strict with me than they were with my brother.
I was older, but noticed that when he was in high school, he was allowed to do things that I would have never been allowed to do…one thing that sticks out in my mind is when he was allowed to drive to Dallas, shortly after getting is driver’s license.
When I got my license, I was allowed to go to and from school only….may have had something to do with failing my driver’s test two times….but, I digress.
It wasn’t until I had kids of my own, that I understood their reasoning.
After thinking about it, I realized that I parent each of my kids differently, regardless of their gender. In fact, my parenting style is all across the spectrum.
On any given day, I can go from Peggy Bundy to Carol Brady and then do a complete 180 to the mom in “ET” who had no idea there was an alien living in her house for several days. Seriously.
Both of my kids’ rooms are upstairs, and besides getting them up from school, I try to avoid the upstairs. Kids are gross. I like to take the whole “out of sight, out of mind” approach when it comes to their living quarters.
I think men are always harder on their boys with the mentality that they are raising men.
I get it.
In my case, I have always been harder on my girls.
For one, their personalities called for it…they are very strong willed with very strong personalities. I would hope that my adult daughter understands that now…I wanted to raise her to know her worth and strength…to become a strong, independent woman. My thirteen year old, who may be the strongest, most stubborn child on the planet, needs to be pushed hard to see her full potential and what she is capable of doing in this world. Hopefully, when she is grown, she will look back and see why I was hard on her and appreciate why I was doing it. I would hope that when she is elected President of the United States one day, she will thank me first in her inaugural speech.
So what is your parenting style? Are you the same across the board or do you switch it up?
For now, I’m off to pour myself some wine…
