Parental communication

There is one thing that is often talked about which makes me angry.

The relationship and communication between parents and their children (usually teenagers).

The cries on the prolife/conservative side often ring to the turn of "government is taking away my right to parent how I want!" or "they're teaching my kids things I don't agree!" or "They're letting my kid do stuff without my consent!"

I have just one thing to say to these parents: If you have a good relationship with your child, none of those things would effect that.

The fact that they are SO worried about public education and the government leads me to think they don't have a good relationship with their children. Instead of a loving, two way relationship, the parents want to control every aspect of their child's life. It's along the lines of "I speak, you listen, and it doesn't matter what you think or feel."

It's depressing.

Families are supposed to be the base unit (no matter who they're made up of). Parents and children are supposed to have very, very strong bonds. And yet, we can see that some parents don't have that bond with their children.


Now, I wasn't best friends with my mother. I didn't tell her every thing I did. But she knew anyway. She knew a general idea of what I was up to, who I was with, what I liked, what my goals were. We most certainly had disagreements. But she never forced her opinion on me. I was taught to think for myself and make good decisions.

Parents need to remember that children are PEOPLE and not robots. At some point, we'll leave the home nest- and if you haven't taught your kids to think for themselves, they're going to fail in life.


If you teach your child to be a self-thinker and they disagree with your opinions, don't become angry. Consider, instead, why they disagree. Consider their viewpoint. Consider their life experiences. Perhaps it's just a phase, and they'll grow out of it. But perhaps, just perhaps, you'll see the issue in a new light, and decide your previous opinion was wrong. That's perfectly okay.




So if you're honestly worried about public education teaching your kids something you don't agree with, or the government controlling your child-parent relationship, think about how you raised your kids. Are your children self-thinkers, or are they puppets which mime whatever they hear? Are your beliefs founded in logic, or are you too parroting what someone else told you? If your child is a self-thinker it doesn't matter what the teachers at school or the senators on the TV say- she'll make the right decisions.