My parents were great—no complaints at all, but as a kid I remember that there were certain house rules that made me repeatedly think: I will never do that to my kids. I will certainly be parenting differently than my parents.
Of course, looking back, my parents weren’t that bad and for the most part, they were pretty logical.
If your kids are past infancy, discipline is something you have to do. Basically, as soon as a child becomes ambulatory and starts speaking, they start doing things they shouldn’t do, and it only gets worse as they get older. I swear, my kids have a rare talent for getting into trouble, causing messes and breaking things, and making inappropriate noise (unfortunately, often involving bodily functions). Teaching kids what to do–and NOT to do–is one of the single most important parts of parenting; if your kids end up as rebellious, insolent, and out-of-control, you’re a failure as a mother or father. Sorry. Discipline takes many forms, and there is a lot of passion and polemics when it comes to what is and isn’t good discipline. What are some of the top discipline mistakes parents make?