The trouble with bigoted parents is

They pass their negative views of the world onto their children. This can be anything from hating gays to hating Muslims, from hating other races to hating single mothers.

Bigoted = obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, and intolerant towards other people's beliefs and practices.

If you carry on about how bad these people are in front of your children, they too will grow up with your twisted views of the world. In some cases those children will grow up and realise your views were bigoted and form their own more fairer views of the world. In other cases they'll follow along with the family legacy you or your parents or grandparents before you created and reek havoc on the world. Just like you have.

If you don't want your child to watch it turn it off

Are you one of those parents who monitors what your children watch and make sure it's suitable and
age appropriate? No swearing, no nudity, no violence, no adult content? Or are you one of those parents who think it's ok for children to be exposed to those things so long as their parents explain the context of what's being shown? Assuming all parents who allow their children to view adult content actually do explain anything to them (what percentage do you suppose that is?).

You would have heard the saying, "If you don't want your child to watch it turn it off".

That has to be one of the most ignorant and irrational sayings I've ever heard. The type of people who say that either don't have children, don't care about the inappropriate things on TV or radio, have no intention of going against the inappropriate things going on around them because it's too much hassle, or have a vested interest in airing adult content. It's their way of shoving it under the carpet and putting the responsibility back on to parents.

Compliment your children

If  there is one thing I couldn't stress enough as a parent it's this: compliment your children. 

Don't over do it. Don't raise one of those pampered beauty pageant type kids who think they're gods gift to the world even though they haven't actually done a great deal to make a difference to the world. Keep it real and make it simple.

It is a good thing to try and find out the things your child likes to be told. You can do this by talking to them and finding out their interests, or you can do it by trial and error and see what lights them up.

Children tend to like hearing simple appreciative things like: good manners, thanks for helping, I hear you playing nicely, good job, good work, it's nice to see you smile, I like hearing you laugh, hello gorgeous / handsome / beautiful / precious, wow you ate all your dinner, well done, you're awesome.

If your dealing with teenagers the compliments could be a bit more adult like: tell me that funny story again, I love seeing you happy, thanks for putting the dishes away, you're a great listener, good job on your assignment.

Do you know where your children are?

A friend was telling me about a story in the news of two 15 year old boys who were stabbed while walking around late at night. The first thing she said was, "Why were they allowed to walk around at night?" My thoughts exactly. Where were these boy's parents keeping them home and safe? Why were they allowed to roam the streets late at night (the attack happened around 10:30pm)? Why did their parents not know or care where they were?

I want vs can I please have

Child: "I want (insert item)."
Parent: "I want 1 million dollars delivered by Keanu Reeves but that's not going to happen."

Point: you can't always get what you want.

I was out and about shopping and I heard a little girl in a stroller whine to her mum, "I want juice!" She whinged and cried and demanded a particular colour while the mum tried to keep her happy and comply.

Such a rude disrespectful way to speak to your parents. 'I want' is a demand no child should be making. It's even worse when the parent responds with ok, alright or yes. This only reinforces the child's belief they're allowed to be demanding and get everything they want.

Sit down and eat together

When you were growing up did your family sit around the table together eating a meal? Did your parents join you and did you all have lovely chats about your day? Or were you one of those families who ate in front of the TV with little to no conversation because you were glued to what you're watching? Or maybe you all ate in separate rooms?

Mine did not sit together. The kids ate at the dinning table while parents ate in the lounge room in front of the TV. There was no conversation and if kids talked at the table we got in trouble. Some times sent to the laundry to eat or to bed without finishing our dinner.

Now I have my own family we always sit together at the dinner table for meals. We chat and talk about our day or things that are on our mind. We take the time to sit and enjoy our food and our time together as a family. Now and then one child will be told to eat more / talk less, or calm down because they're getting a bit silly. Overall it's fun family time together.

If your children have bad teeth it's your fault

I have this motto: if children have cavities the parent hasn't done a good enough job. I'm not talking about random teeth disorders that are out of your hands. I'm talking about outright neglect. As parents it's your job to look after your children. This includes their weight, their health and their teeth.

Too many parents give their children flavoured milk, juice, lollies, sugary cereals and chocolate in daily doses or ever couple of days, a couple of times a week. Many do this with their babies and toddlers. There are too many children with cavities and rotten BABY teeth! That is outright abuse in my books.

Your child knows nothing about tooth decay, eating healthy foods, brushing regularly. Your job as a parent is to teach them this. Help them avoid bad sugary foods. Teach them to brush their teeth morning and night. Not let your children's teeth rot because you're too weak to say no to that bad food YOU KNOW they shouldn't be eating.

Children and pets

Did your children get a pet for Christmas? Did you have a talk about how the pet is their responsibility? How they have to feed it, give it water, clean up after it. How you won't be do any of that for them.

Come time to actually care for the pet and responsibility falls on the parents shoulders no matter what they think they previously arranged with the children.

Sound familiar? Does to me. I hear it all the time. Parents complaining about how they got their child a pet, told their child they have to take care of that pet and now the parent is doing all the work.

These parents say things like 'Now I have to feed it all the time' or 'I'm the one having to empty the litter tray' or 'I have to walk the dog because they won't do it'. When I tell them they don't have to do any of it they start making up excuses as to why they do. The pet will starve, the child always forgets, the child just won't do it.

Christmas and children

Christmas is a time of year that baffles me. The objective seems to be acquiring huge amounts of stuff while consuming vast amounts of food, wasting huge amounts of paper and discarding huge amounts of plastic. Gluttony. Pure gluttony. The idea that we're teaching our children this is what Christmas is all about is tragic.

Then there are the poor folk, those who can't afford to give something to their children. How do we explain Santa to children when some children get noticeably huge amounts of presents while others get very little? As a child I never understood that. Why did some children at my school get lots and lots of gifts while I got very little? My only explanation was that I mustn't have been as good as them. What an awful thing for a child to think of themselves.

For those who can't afford much there is always those bargain shops that sell cheap goods. Cheap goods that break easy and don't amount to much aside from non bio degradable landfill at the end of the day.