John Noble (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jackofallgeeks) wrote2003-08-28 10:36 am
jackofallgeeks) wrote2003-08-28 10:36 am
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I used to think that the most frightening things in the world were concepts like Death, Eternity, and Being Utterly Alone. Those things are frightening, yes, but not quite so bone-chillingly terrifying as the mother who said this of her toddler:
"He is his own person. If I tell him to stop, and he chooses not too, that is his choice. Who am I to force my will upon him?"
I'm going to have nightmares for a week.
"He is his own person. If I tell him to stop, and he chooses not too, that is his choice. Who am I to force my will upon him?"
I'm going to have nightmares for a week.
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when children are young, especially that young, they aren't really their own person yet. the experiences they have will help to shape and mould them into their own person, but they don't know enough to really be their own person yet.
young children have a small world that revolves entirely around themselves and what they need, because it's all they're capable of taking in. if you allow that point of view to continue, without ever helping your child to see that there is much more to the world than just "me" and what "i want," then i think you've failed as a parent in a very real sense by refusing to even attempt to guide your child through life.
taking it to the extreme, if her kid wanted to take daddy's gun to school, would it be an imposition of will to tell him no? if he wants to beat other people up, would telling him to stop be wrong? what about stealing, or cheating on tests?
come to think of it, i guess the laws by which a country are governed must be terribly imposing to someone who thinks like this ... i bet she's a nice little anarchist or something. whee.
my husband and i are going to do right by our daughter, and future children, by teaching them that their actions affect other people, just like other peoples' actions will affect them. teaching a kid what behaviors are acceptable is *necessary*. if your son or daughter is a grown person, then it would be ridiculous to tell them what to do. but children *need* to have their parents' will forced upon them, or they'll end up having no concept of reality, relationships with others, or even simple everyday questions of right from wrong. you can't just let your kid run rampant doing whatever they want ..
*ugh* sorry for the rant ... that just really makes me mad ... classic example of how *not* to treat your toddler.
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