Throw that Damn Book Away, Your Child Has Not Read It Yet.

Throw that Damn Book Away, Your Child Has Not Read It Yet. 07/02/2010

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got
was from my mother, when she said
“throw that damn book away,
your child hasn’t read it yet”,
quote, Carol Willis.

A friend of mine, Carol Willis, a talented writer has begun blogging about raising a child who never followed the perfect family formula as given in Dr. Benjamin Spock's, book Baby and Child Care, published the year of my birth, in 1946. You can read Carol’s stories, in her “Modern Woman’s Guide”, blog.

While many mums only ever have problems once the children reach the teen stage and start stressing over the opposite sex, and best acne face wash, Carol contends with a child who has been a handful from the start, she even gets her tongue stuck on a trip to the supermarket. lol, this reminds me of one of my own children who was hyperactive, 'an accident looking for a place to happen'.
In a recent blog,
‘About washing powder and tongues’, Carol Willis, writes,

“Another really vivid memory comes to mind when I think of my journey as a mother. With my eldest child, we have dealt with several problems, both behavioral and physiological, and it certainly hasn’t been the blissful experience I was promised. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from my mother, when she said “throw that damn book away, your child hasn’t read it yet”, and never a truer word was uttered. I listened to her and I just adapted my style of parenting as I went along. I didn’t know that if any child would test a mother and force an adaptive approach, it was Megan.” read more

I am happy that I have raised my children, did the best I could, been judged by one as wanting as a parent because I disciplined her more than she thought right and considered a good mum by the other. I know I loved my children and only ever wanted, the best for them, and did all I felt was right at the time.   That is all any mum can do. That is what my own children are doing. Each has their own style, and I see them both as good parents in their own way.

Our children come with their own individual natures, they did not come programmed according to the book and we can only be guided by our own best judgment at the time we are called on to make quick decisions.

Have the courage to discipline, tempered with wisdom and love, when needed, as true parenting is not trying to win a popularity contest with our children it is showing them we love them enough to care how they behave and to strive to guide them so they will be able to live happily within society. This role does not always make us popular with them at the time and it is not always easy. When a parent claims to have never had any difficulties, in parenting, they are the parents with the problem, as they do not know what their kids are getting up to.

Above all else, however our children behave, let them know we love them, even when they try us in extreme ways.