Parenting is not for the weak. Parenting is the toughest job out there. You constantly want to be the perfect parent, but there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Any parent that says they have never made a mistake is a LIAR! You want to be your child's friend but you can't. It's not about being their friend or even having them always like you. This is hard for someone like me that wants everyone to like me. Also it's not your job to always make them happy. Another flaw of mine is wanting to make everyone around me happy. My mom always told me that she knew she was doing her job when a child yelled I hate you! While I have never heard that I also have not been to the wonderful teen years. (I am sure I will get plenty of I hate you's then.) I believe it's our job as parents to love our children, teach them about God's love, and help them grow up to be great adults. Part of this is teaching them respect. I have lost count of the children I see in the hallways of schools, aisles of stores, even in church being hateful, rude, and above all disrespectful to their parents. I am not counting children with disabilities that cause them to act and behave like this. I am talking about completely healthy, normal children. It truly sickens me to see how some children talk to their parents. If your child talks to you that way, how do you think they are going to talk to everyone in their life? If they can't respect you, how do you think they will ever respect God and God's word? How will they respect their teachers and bosses? I applaud teachers who spend a great deal of time on teaching children manners and respect but it should not be their job. I believe a lot of it stems from parents who don't want to make their child unhappy and only want to be a friend not a parent to their child. I would love nothing more than to always be Gabrielle's BFF and always make her 100% happy. But then I would be doing her a disservice. Today is a prime example. Attitude with me all day from the moment she woke up. At first I chalked it up to being tired and still waking up. It kept going on and on. I had to give her a talk in the middle of a grocery store using the mad voice. I haven't had to do that in years! I finally had it when she got upset because I said she watched enough TV tonight. I won't get into details but she had attitude and tried to disrespect me. So I sent her to bed at 6:30. Yes 2 hours early! She cried so hard in bed that I thought she was going to be sick. When she started begging for her mommy, I went in. I told her if she couldn't stop I crying I'd leave the room. It took her a bit to start breathing right. I explained that she treated me with nothing but attitude. I can only assume that she is mad at me about something. She said no. I said then you are over tired and need your sleep. That is the only logical reasons to be so hateful today. I told her to get some sleep. She is probably wide awake in there. But tomorrow will be better for us both. I hate when I have to be the bad guy, but you can't always be the good guy. Parenting is more than being your child's friend. You have to know when to draw that line in the sand. You CAN be friends with your child, but you have to know when to stop being their friend and be the parent.
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