some thoughts about parenting

[cheshire23]

This is in response to both merina888 and silyara, in particular.

Comments

[paquerette]

I really believe that much of the child abuse that occurs is the result of adults having developmentally inappropriate expectations of children.

Yes! I've seen this discussed a lot in the last week especially pertaining to that article about how 1/3 of parents have little understanding of child development.

Heck, I *know* why, and I still bang my head up against the proverbial wall asking the universe "why why WHY won't she stop tormenting the cats?" etc. I already feel like I've said it the requisite thousand times. ;)

a story

[tellinellen]

supernanny was on the view the other day and they brought up a few moms to ask her for advice about the "problems" they were having w their kids. supernanny immediately prescribed a plan of action and/or attack based on about two sentences worth of information. oh and there weren't any real problems, everything the kids were doing was totally normal. but ANYWAY my point is not about how horrible the whole thing was but about whoopi goldberg - there was a baby who was in that stage where she would.not.stay.still for a diaper change and the parents didn't know what to do. so whoopi suggested leaving the kid in poop for a little while. because OBVIOUSLY that would teach a baby a valuable lesson and she would then have the understanding and discipline to cooperate w a diaper change. *headdesk*

[vaudy]

Someday, when I finally have children, your LJ will be my guide to parenting. I swear. Hyperbole aside, a lot of what you have to say jibes with my ideas of what I'd like to do as a parent.

And I think emotionally safer sex is definitely an under-appreciated concept.

On the instant gratification front, when I shared a house with a family with two small kids, the elder (about four at the time) used to look absolutely stricken and say "but that's a looooong tiiiiiiime" when asked to wait for something for ten minutes or so. I definitely know what you're talking about there.

Time passing

[endlessbard]

I noticed, a number of years ago, that time seemed to be flying by faster and faster. And it occurred to me that the reason this seemed to be so was probably that I was getting older, and each given increment of time represented a smaller and smaller fraction of my total lifespan up to that point.

So I think your observation re: temporal expectation vs chronological age is quite accurate.

[lovefromgirl]

I doff my blue cloche to you, because damn, you're an incredible parent. :-)

[gaoisnurse]

I think you've grasped a significant piece of Einstein's relativity theory of time there...