When I read this article by Joanna Simmons in The Times on Saturday a couple of weekends ago, it was as if a million light bulbs had gone off in my head.
Benign neglect is what I’ve been trying valiantly to achieve in our household for the last 18 years. A state of play where there is equal value placed on the general enjoyment of the adults as well as the children.
Where life is not all about jumping up to satisfy their every whim immediately and there is quality time for both parents, individually and as a couple.
It would just be nice to be able to use the bathroom without having someone banging on the door making demand or, indeed, just barging in to hold a conversation regardless of any complaint on my part.
Every day I see the results of not parenting by this concept… and I’m not just talking about my own offspring here. Because it overflows into their interaction with other non-related adults, with their insistence that those grownups also indulge their desires instantly and, worse, their refusal to accept that life is all about rewards without having to earn them first.
In a world where teachers are also expected to comply with the rules of this new order, discipline and respect go out of the window and the last bastion of hope for future generations with it.
We all need to start being more selfish.
Recent Bites