Article Worth Reading.

Thanks to my sweet mom, I have a subscription to Good Housekeeping. I enjoy flipping through the magazines each month, getting new recipe ideas, sometimes neat craft and creative snack ideas, and quite often some very interesting articles. The latest issue has an article that I think every mom should read. It is about why being a mean mom is good for your kids. (Here is the online link.)

The writer quotes Richard Weissbourd, a child and family psychologist on the faculty of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and School of Education and the author of "The Parents We Mean To Be."

"Many parents are so focused on their children's happiness and self-esteem and believe that if a child feels good about herself, she'll have more to give others. That's the modern idea, but it's often not true. Our kids' happiness is clearly important, but if we place that above their respecting us, caring about others, and appreciating what they have, children are less likely to internalize our moral standards, learn empathy, or be grateful. They may grow up thinking their happiness is the priority."

"...teaching self-reliance is, in my book, the ultimate goal of parenting."


I couldn't agree more with both of those statements. I believe that the goal of parenting is to teach my children to love God, and others, and in doing so teach them to be self-sufficient, responsible, moral members of society. I haven't read Richard Weissbourd's book, but these two along with other statements the writer has quoted in her article make me think it just might be worth reading.

Definitely check out that article if you get a chance and I'd love to have you leave a comment with what you think.