Building Trust with Your Child

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

The good news is that our children are born trusting us. And trust is the basis on which we can enjoy a lifetime of togetherness with our children.

But sometimes, we teach them not to trust us. By not doing what we say. By not following through.

So how can we rebuild this trust?

If your child is very young, just make a decision to pay more attention to what you say to her, and to do it. Then reinforce that you did it. “I said we’d play on the swings this evening, and we did! Wasn’t it fun?” When you slip up, she’ll point it out. “You said you’d draw a picture with me, but you didn’t!” And you’ll have a chance to correct your error.

Over time, she will learn that you keep your word, and she will learn to keep hers too. She will learn to trust you.

For older children, because they’ve learnt not to trust over a longer time, it will take greater effort. If you have more than one child, do this individually with each one for maximum impact.

Step One: Confess. Yes, this is the only way out. Pick a time when you and your child have time – if you think it might take 15 minutes, budget for an hour. Not that you will necessarily need an hour, but she has to participate in the conversation too, so give her time to listen and understand. Give yourself time to explain and clarify. Give yourselves time to agree on a few things. Like I said, trust takes time. So make sure you have ample time on your hands.

Step Two: Pick a time when both of you are relatively calm. If you’d planned to talk to your child about it after dinner, and she’s distracted or excited or upset about something, pick another time, when she will be calmer and more able to engage with you.

Step Three: Tell your child what’s bothering you. “I feel sad (and bad, and ashamed, and…) that I say so many things, but don’t do them. When I say I’ll go biking with you, I mean to, but somehow, other things seem to take over, and we both end up feeling bad. I’d like to change that.” Correlate to something she would like to change. “You’d like to do better at math, but you need my help for it. Well, I’d like you to help me with this.”

Step Four: Talk about what goes wrong. “I get urgent work assignments.” “I’m so tired by the time I get home.” “I get distracted by other things so I don’t finish my work on time, and then I’m behind schedule, which cuts into my time with you.” “I worry about not having enough money, and this puts me in a bad mood. Then I don’t feel like doing fun things.” This is a very grave acknowledgement to make.

In essence, you are telling your child that thus far, you have put work, exhaustion, distractions and worries ahead of him. Not in so many words, but that is what you are saying. And it needs to be said (but not spelt out!). When you say this to your child, he will listen. He knows it, but hearing you admit it will make him sit up and listen. It will reassure him that this time around, you are serious about making a change, that there might just be a point to this talk the two of you are having.

Step Five: Now that you have got his attention, ask him what behavior of yours bothers him the most. Having asked him, wait for him to respond. This talk is not about your unburdening yourself. It is about both of you seeking a way to build trust. Let him come up with some answer. If there’s none, ask him what would be the top (one, two, three, five – whatever, but let’s not get too ambitious to start with :-)) thing he’d like to change about you.

He might say, “You don’t listen when I tell you something. Like when I told you I had debating practice, you nodded, but when it was time to go, you yelled at me saying I hadn’t told you before…” Make sure he gives you an instance (or two or three!) of whatever it is he’s ‘complaining’ about. This helps him clarify his thoughts, and decide which one thing he’d most like to change about your behavior with him.

Step Six: If you agree with his assessment, decide on the nature of the change you will make. If he says you embarrass him in front of his friends, ask specifically what embarrasses him. It might be the fact that you hug him, or yell at him, or are too chatty with his friends. Whatever it is, ask him precisely how he would like to see change.

“Don’t put your arm around me.” “When my friends come over, just say ‘Hello!’, then go away.”

Step Seven: Be practical. If the habit is too ingrained, you might want to negotiate. “It’ll be hard for me to change all of a sudden. Will it be okay if I don’t yell at you more than twice a day – at least to start with?” Then sit down to define ‘yelling’. Let him help you. “Will you just tell me the next time I start? Just say, ‘Mom, you’re yelling again’, and I’ll stop. Then that won’t count as a yelling. Okay?”

Step Eight: Decide when you’ll have another chat to assess your progress. At assessment time, you might decide to do away with the earlier exceptions because you’re getting better at your new behavior. 🙂 You may even decide to change other things!

Step Nine: Three little words: Go do it.

There will be times you slip up. You’ll slide back every now and then, but your child will be on your side, helping you keep track.

But more often than not, you’ll find that this ‘one’ change will change everything about your relationship with your child, and many issues will simply fizzle out.

Believe me, this works. With both boys and girls, however old or young they are. Because children love to be taken into confidence by adults. Being asked to help a parent, and that too with behavioral change, makes them feel both valuable and powerful. The very fact that you are asking your child to help you will bring you both closer than before.

All that remains is to celebrate the trust you are building with your child. I raise a toast to you!

Posted in Communication | 13 Comments

Why Making Promises to Your Child is a Bad Idea

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

There is one quality so powerful, that that quality alone will let you build a lasting and fulfilling relationship with your child. That quality is not love.

It is trust. If there is trust between you and your child, you will be able to enjoy a lifetime together. Even without love, though it seems almost impossible that love should not exist between a parent and a child…

The reverse is not true. Love, without trust, is glitter without gold.

To trust someone is to believe them. If your child trusts you, she believes you when you tell her that you’ll listen to her reciting her lines for the play after you finish the phone call you are on.

The good news is that our children are born trusting us.

You say to your 2-year old, “We’ll build that Lego model after lunch.” He practically gobbles up his lunch in his excitement. After lunch, he grabs the Lego box and rushes to you. You point to the table in the play area and say, “Keep it there.” And then you sit there with him and build the model. Your son, who already trusts you, learns yet again, that you do what you say you will do.

Trust makes parenting carefree, enjoyable.

You don’t need to play ‘good cop, bad cop’. You say, “If you don’t finish dinner, you won’t get to watch your favorite show.” Your daughter knows that you do what you say you will do. Of course, she will still try to have it her way (pick at dinner but watch TV), but her heart won’t be in it. Because she trusts you. Because she has learnt to trust you. Because you have taught her to trust you.

If there is trust between you and your child, he becomes trustworthy himself. Your son loves to play barefoot in the park, but there’s glass strewn all over the park today. Before he goes to play, you look him in the eye and say, “There’s glass strewn all over the park today, so I’d like you to keep your shoes on throughout.” If he looks at you and responds, “Okay, I will,” know that he will keep his shoes on. Because he has learnt from you to do what he says he will do. He has learnt that when a person says something, they do it (at least at home! :-)) As simple as that!

These scenarios play out when we keep teaching our children to trust us time after time after time. Trust needs time.

Trust doesn’t need you to be perfect. There will be times your best intentions are derailed. There might be an emergency. The weather is bad so you can’t go to the amusement park. Tell your child. Explain properly why you could not do what you said you would do.

“Dad has high fever, so he should rest rather than go out for a movie.” If possible, schedule the event for another time. “We’ll watch the movie next weekend.” If the movie won’t be playing in cinemas next weekend, would she like to watch another movie? Could you all watch the DVD together when it is released?

So why is this post titled “Why Making Promises to Your Child is a Bad Idea”?

Imagine yourself making a promise to your child. Here goes: “I promise. I’ll cook dinner tonight, and we’ll eat together. I promise. We’ll eat together.” What you are really telling your child is that this time, he should believe you. Because you are promising something. At other times, he has your permission not to believe you. Because you are not promising.

To promise means to keep your word. If you keep your word, i.e. if you do what you say you will do, you don’t need to promise anything to your child! Ever. She knows that if you have said it, you will do everything in your power to make it happen.

“I’ll bake a cake for you on your birthday.”

“We’ll set up a play date with your friend next week.”

“We’ll go to the mountains on vacation.”

“I’ll come and watch your match this afternoon.”

These “words” of seemingly little importance add up to big words.

When he asks you at age five why you and your partner divorced, you can tell him, “We had problems. I’ll tell you more about it when you are a bit more grown up and better able to understand – maybe when you are 8 or 10 years old…”

This way you have not lied to him (adding to trust in later years! :-)), you have not stressed him out by sharing information he cannot process or handle today, and you have addressed the issue that was bothering him. Also, you have not confused him by vilifying your ex-partner. You are a winner all the way!

Being told an answer at 8 or 10 is a lifetime of waiting to a child of five. But he will believe you, and be satisfied and at peace with your answer. Because you have taught him to trust you.

Of course, you’d better make a mental note and revisit this issue when he’s eight or ten. Raise it yourself, if you think he’s ready for some information. And if you raise it yourself, tell him that you’re making good on the word you gave him when he was five.

At this point, you might feel that there is less trust between you and your child than you would like. I’m sorry to disillusion you. There is no ‘less’ trust and ‘more’ trust.

Trust IS or IS NOT – just like Life. If you feel there isn’t trust between you and your child, know that you have taught your child not to trust you. I’m not blaming you! So often, life takes over and makes mincemeat of our best intentions and resolutions.

But it is not too late. It is never too late to build trust. More difficult, yes – but always doable and always worthwhile. Especially with children, because they are so accepting.

How do you start building trust with your child? Get some tips tomorrow.

Posted in Communication | 13 Comments

Are You Sure that’s Your Child You’re Parenting?

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

No, I’m not casting doubts on your child’s parentage!

If you were happy about bringing your child into the world (and many are not), one of the first decisions you made when you learnt you were expecting a child was to be the best parent you could be. ‘Decision’ is not the right word because it does not express your determination strongly enough – it was more in the nature of a vow. You promised yourself that you would be the best parent ever.

You will always ‘be there’ for your child – you will love her and support her and give her everything she needs all through her life. You will never hurt her… Stop right there!

Hurt your child? And this child not yet born? What are you thinking?

It’s simple! You are thinking of yourself. You’re thinking of yourself when you were a child. You are thinking of those times when you felt hurt because of something your parents said or didn’t say, did or didn’t do. You are thinking of the times you were looking to your parents for reassurance and failed to find it. You are replaying scenes from your past.

But now that you will be a parent, these scenes will have different endings. In the new endings, everything ends with the child feeling good. Obviously, the new ending features you as the parent and a featureless someone as the child.

Alright. Snap back to the present.

You have made your vows. You await the baby. The baby arrives. And you start living your vows.

You are exaggeratedly loving. You watch every word that comes out of your mouth. You don’t even let yourself frown around the baby because you are a wonderful, loving parent, and no such parent is ever tired, disgruntled, or irritated by the baby. (Or so you think, especially if this is your first child.:-))

After this phase wears off, you acknowledge your irritation, and make your peace with the thought that wanting a break from your child and her demands does not make you a ‘bad’ parent. And you go on being the loving parent.

Then one day, she hurts herself. The doctor advises that she stay in bed for a day.

Flashback! You were sick and in bed. Your dad was home that day, but came to check on you just twice, for a minute each time. And you lay in bed feeling sad and sorry and unloved and in pain and abandoned. You hated being alone and in bed! You wished Dad would spend some time with you, talk to you, sit with you to pass the time…

Today, your head tells you that Dad was working on something so important that he’d stayed home to avoid even the distraction of colleagues at work. But your heart still hurts.

And so you abandon your work and sit with your daughter and read her a story and talk to her, not noticing her drooping eyelids, not hearing her murmured, “I’m tired, Dad”. After all, you are a wonderful, loving parent, and you want her to know it.

So – who is it you’re parenting? You’re parenting yourself – the ‘you’ that you were in the past.

Which brings me to the title of this post: Are you sure it’s your child you’re parenting?

Sadly, a lot of the time, for most of us, the answer is NO.

We tend to get overwhelmed by the emotions of our past, and treat our children as we would have liked our parents to treat us. (Hey! Maybe our parents were doing that too! A thought that makes you feel better, doesn’t it?)

And what of the child that’s lying in bed? Tired and wishing Dad would just go away and let her rest? But too tired, or too polite, to tell him so. She suffers silently. And maybe creates a moment that she will remember when she is a parent. And she will leave her child alone. And so the cycle is continued…

But you ARE a wonderful, loving parent. All you need to do is to shake off the cobwebs of the past and look at your child as a person in his own right.

Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the The Five Love Languages, says each person tends to primarily express love in different ways. Yes, five different ways. The ways could be Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Physical Touch, Acts of Service, or Quality Time.

And here you are – being a loving mom, hugging and kissing your two-year old. And she spends her time squirming out of your arms, asking you to play with her, to solve a jigsaw puzzle, to cook with her. Not your style. So you do the minimum of these that you can get away with to keep her happy, but keep grabbing her for a hug that she’s trying to avoid.

You’re left feeling like she doesn’t love you – she’s just two and if she doesn’t want hugs and kisses now, then when? – and you’re puzzled and hurt. To make matters worse, she prefers being with your partner, who doesn’t hug her in days! (But does ‘stuff’ with her.)

Look again at your child. This is a person in his own right. And he’s telling you all the time how to love him. Well, love him! HIS way!

You have a son who’s always gifting you things. Give him gifts of pebbles, his favorite foods, feathers – anything, so long as it can take the form of a gift (and children are not fussy!). He will feel loved.

Your daughter pays you compliments ten times an hour. Tell your daughter all the things you like about her. Give her the appreciation she craves. She will feel loved.

Over time, their love languages will change. The little boy who squeezed you hard now shrugs out of an embrace. The girl that said “I love you” every day at bed time barely mumbles “G’night” before she shuts the door to her room.

But they’re still telling you how to love them. You come home to find she’s done some of your chores. Your son says you might want to help him set up the Xbox 360. They’re telling you.

And if you’re listening, then you’re sure – sure that it IS your child you’re parenting.

Posted in Love | 13 Comments

The No. 1 Disease from which All Parents Suffer

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

If you are a parent, you know what it is to be tortured by guilt. Guilt that you are not doing enough for your child – not giving enough, not bonding enough, not spending enough time and/or money, not teaching enough, not …

In short, you’re beating yourself up because a little voice inside your head pipes up every now and then that you are NOT good enough as a parent.

Guilt is part of the human condition, and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to escape it. What we must try for, if we are to live in relative peace and sanity, is to manage the guilt.

It is a sadly familiar scenario. Your teenager has been acting strange for the past few weeks – he disappears for unaccounted chunks of time and is acting oddly around you. When you try to talk about the issue, he either ignores you, or reassures you so unnaturally that you are beginning to seriously worry.

Is he smoking on the sly (and what’s he smoking, anyway? Or inhaling? Or injecting?)? Drinking? Has he joined a gang or cult? Is it a girl? Or a guy? Is he cooking up an illegal scheme to make money? As a dad, you know the kinds of trouble he could be getting himself into. And things are much worse today than they were when you were a teen.

You wind yourself up tighter and tighter till you are ready to burst. If you are lucky, you might find out before you explode. If not, you’ll find out after you explode. And what you find out is this: He was putting together a surprise for your 50th birthday party.

Mainly because he wants you to let him have the party to beat all parties when he turns 16 two months from now! (Sigh of relief! Everything’s okay – he’s behaving like a normal guy. He wants something in return for all the work he’s doing. :-))

The point is: whether you explode or not, you will be guilty that you didn’t trust him enough. You will reproach yourself for not believing enough in him.

And this guilt will spur you to uncharacteristic behavior. You might allow him to break major household rules in an extravagant fit of remorse. Or you might try to restrict his freedom to ensure you don’t have to go through such agonies of uncertainty (and guilt) again. Whichever way the pendulum swings, it will swing wide.

And it will confuse your child.

In a much younger child too, guilt can lead parents to behave in a bizarre manner. Such as reading out the riot act to your daughter at first, and on realizing that you have misread the situation, apologizing profusely and bribing her with treats to make her (and yourself!) feel better.

Guilt makes us behave abnormally – contrary to our beliefs, our values, our thinking, our convictions. And such behavior confuses our children. They wonder what happened to the parent they ‘know’ so well. What’s going on?

You don’t want to tell your child why you are behaving as you are. Because you are ashamed of what you thought or said or did, and you want to suppress the guilt.

Enough episodes of guilt will increase the distance between you and your child, replacing trust with suspicion (what is my mom/dad thinking to make her/him behave this way?), anxiety, and perhaps even fear. (Children are very imaginative!)

I think we have a golden opportunity right here, to get closer to our children, to forge deeper ties with them, and to help them become worthwhile adults.

Children feel guilty too. She may never show it, but when she threw that glass in a fit of rage and it smashed against your hand, cutting your finger, she felt guilty as hell. She felt bad about what she’d done. She felt bad she’d done it. She felt bad she’d done it to you. Even by mistake, but she’d done it. She would give anything to take it back, but that isn’t possible. And she holds in her guilt, and lives with it, stewing in it.

She suffers, and sets herself up as a ‘bad’ person in her own estimation. Yup! You got that right – we’re talking self-esteem.

If you could talk to her, and tell her that sometimes, you feel like a ‘bad’ person too, when you doubt someone’s intentions, words, or actions, it would be enormously reassuring for her. “My mom! My dad! They feel this way too! I guess I’m not so ‘bad’ after all!”

Don’t kid yourself that only a young child would think this way. However she behaves around you, however she talks to / about you, you are still the bedrock of your teenage daughter’s existence. Your “I’m my own man” teenager is still deeply influenced by you – you’d be shocked if you knew how much.

Go back to your own childhood. Revisit some long-nursed guilt.

How freeing it would have been if someone had sat you down and said, “I know you didn’t mean to cut my finger. I know you didn’t mean to break the glass. It’s okay. I’m fine. I know you feel awful about the whole thing, but I don’t think any the less of you for it. In fact, let me tell you something. I, too, feel terrible about something I did. I feel awful about how I behaved the other day – when I started yelling at you the moment I entered the house, because you said you hadn’t done your homework. And then you told me that you were sick, but didn’t call me at work because you knew I had an important meeting and you didn’t want to disturb me.

How I wish I hadn’t yelled at you! Even though I didn’t know you were sick. You were sick and alone and still you were so thoughtful about me. And I’m your mom, and you were sick, and I was so mean to you! I know I didn’t know you were sick. But still, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I still feel bad about it. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over feeling bad about it.

But I also know that you don’t blame me for it. I know I feel worse about it than you do. That’s guilt.  We all have it, so it’s okay. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t make you less lovable. It doesn’t make you less worthwhile. You are still a wonderful, worthwhile person, and always will be, no matter how many mistakes you make.

So don’t worry that you threw the glass, that my finger is cut. Stuff happens, you know.”

How freeing it would have been if someone had sat you down and said this!

And just like that – a horrible, makes-you-cringe, gut-wrenching, heart-aching experience becomes a memory to cherish!

Posted in Parenting | 18 Comments

Love is a Six-Letter Verb

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

Love is a six-letter verb, and it is spelt A-C-C-E-P-T.

When your baby was born, it felt like you’d been handed a live doll to cherish and enjoy – with a few exceptions. Notably, the baby’s tendency to spew disgusting things from both ends. And its fondness for making continuous mewling noises which increased in volume over time, and slowly shredded your nerves to confetti.

So – did you wrinkle your nose and drop the baby in the dustbin? Leave it someplace without a return address label? Of course not! You wrinkled your nose, cleaned it up, sighed, cleaned it up again, and when it finally stayed clean for a few minutes, you cuddled your baby and murmured words of love.

Or you rocked and soothed and patted him, sleep-walking a tread in the carpet, crooning for endless hours as your arms threatened to drop out of their sockets. But you never once considered just letting him cry through the night. How could you? You love him. Your love is a living, breathing reality, and you accept the baby just as he is.

Fast forward to the time this baby is a toddler. Suddenly, she discovers that she is a person different from you. She learns to say ‘No’ in many ways. She won’t eat when you feed her. She refuses to be dressed, or to be soothed. She wants to sleep when it isn’t yet nap time. She refuses to go to bed till all hours of the morning. You say she’s going through the Terrible Twos, and continue to hug her with fervor.

Fast forward some more to when your little darling digs his feet in, puts his ears back, and in no uncertain terms, says NO to you. Suddenly, it is a contest of wills. Your will against his, and you want to impose your will onto him. “Listen to me,” you say, “I am your mom. I know that this is bad for you. Don’t do it.”

“Listen to me,” you say, “I am your dad. Don’t you want to be big and strong like me? If you don’t drink your milk and eat your vegetables, you will not grow big and strong. You will not have good muscles. You will be weak. Listen to me. Drink your milk. Eat your vegetables. That is how I became so big and strong.” (Wonder if your parents would agree with this! :-))

As you know, this approach rarely works over the long term. After the first couple of times, growing up at some vague time in the future is simply not enough incentive for your child to drink the milk and eat the veggies. So he says “No”. And refuses to budge from that NO.

As these NO’s keep piling up, you start finding fault with your child.

“Why don’t you color properly – within the lines?”

“Can’t you eat your food faster?”

“Must you be so messy?”

Sure – you are saying this to ‘improve’ your child, to make him better than he was before, but somewhere, the message he is getting is that you are withholding approval and love.

After all, look at it from his point of view. He’s never said to you:

“Why don’t you lose some weight, Mom? You’re beginning to look lumpy around the hips.”

“Dad, you’re balding. Can’t you do something about it?”

“Why don’t you learn to cook some new dish? I’m tired of eating your five staple dishes.”

“Why don’t you learn how to reverse into a parking space?”

You have to admit it — in the years that she has been growing, you too, have been changing. When she was two, you were probably swinging her high up into the air and catching her in your arms as she came hurtling down. Now that she’s seven, she’d still like those ‘high ones’ but when you say it tires you, or that your arms hurt, she doesn’t ask you to do something about it.

She just A-C-C-E-P-T-S you the way you are — at this moment. If you are mad at her, she doesn’t tell you that you have no reason to be mad at her. She accepts that you are angry, and deals with it as best she can. When you’ve cooled down, she’ll probably begin cajoling you again so she can have her own way…

We are blessed to have children who accept us. Why can’t we love them back the same way? Why can’t we love them for who they are?

So he’s throwing a tantrum. It’s bad for him. He’s turning blue from lack of oxygen. And on top of that, you get mad at him!

What happened to your love for the baby that did impossible things? You just went on loving him right back. No matter what he threw at you (literally!), you just kept on loving him.

I feel it is when our children begin to be independent that we begin to default on this complete acceptance. So long as they are not actively opposing our will, we find it easy to love (read A-C-C-E-P-T) them. The moment they reveal themselves as people with independent points of view and wishes different from ours, we feel the need to overcome their “No’s”. And we try to do so in the worst way possible – we withhold ourselves. We become cold. We frown. We step back. We give them half-hearted hugs. We turn away. We give them the silent treatment.

And still they love us! And try to appease us! Bless our children!

It is humbling to be a parent.

We have a lot of love for our children. Now if only we can love them – because love is a six-letter verb…

Posted in Love | 28 Comments

Coming Back from the Brink of Too Much Love

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

It is 8pm and you’re entering the house after a hard day at work. Your 11-year old daughter just remembered she needs a special tool from the store for a project tomorrow, and she will be penalized if she doesn’t have it. The store is a 15-minute drive away, and if you turn right around and leave, you might be able to buy what she needs before the store shuts. “But why didn’t you tell me or Mom earlier?” you ask in desperation. “You’ve done this so many times! You get back from school at 3pm. You’ve had 5 hours to let us know, and you tell us now!”

“Please, Dad,” she pleads. “Just this once. Please. I won’t make a good grade unless you buy me the tool. Please. I promise. This is the last time.”

You’ve always bailed her out, so be fair to her and do it one last time.

However, make it clear to her that this is the very last time you will do so. When you get back, and are surrounded by her loving thanks, sit her down and tell her that from this moment onwards, she has to be responsible for certain things in her life. Tell her exactly that, clearly, and start small. Start with whatever is bothering you the most.

“The next time you don’t tell us by 4pm, we will not get it for you.”

“If you wake up late and miss the school bus, I won’t drop you to school. You’ll have to miss school.”

“If you don’t put your clothes in the laundry basket, they won’t be washed. You can wear dirty clothes, or stay in bed.”

“If you don’t tell me about your orchestra practice (or ball game or debating competition…) at least three days before the event, I will not take you.”

The next time they forget, it is time to show that you love them enough to let them face the problem they have created. She needs to learn that there are consequences to not doing things on time. And she needs to learn it more than she needs to make a good grade on tomorrow’s project.

Just. Say. No.

Your child will rave and rant. He will throw at you every accusation he can think of. Stand firm. He will take your breath away with the unfair and hurtful things he says (the first of which is that you do not love him and do not care about him!).

Do not give way. He will ask you why you are being so insensitive, hard-hearted, selfish… Don’t even bother to answer his questions, because he is not ready to listen to your reply. He may end up not eating dinner, banging doors, talking back, screaming…

Let him be.

She might even play the last trick up her sleeve. “Alright, if you don’t care enough about me and my grades to get me what I need, I won’t go to school tomorrow.”

Stand your ground. If need be, tell her that if she’s sure she won’t go to school the next day, she can stay home and you’ll arrange for supervision (if this applies to you). Let her know it is her decision, and that you respect it.

If not that evening, she will definitely have calmed down sufficiently by the following evening for you to sit her down and explain why you acted as you did. Tell her that reaping the results of your actions is part of growing up. Tell her that real life rarely gives you the same opportunity twice. There will be other chances, other opportunities, but the one that is gone is gone forever.

If you missed the flight that began your dream 30-day vacation, the holiday is not spoiled. Delayed and more expensive than you’d planned – definitely. But not spoiled. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you missed the flight.

She will get it if you sit down and tell her.

But this is where things often go wrong.

Instead of simply talking to our children and telling them our point of view, we get defensive. We tell them, and want them to still think well of us. We want them to agree that our action was correct, that it was justified. And so, instead of just telling them, we start pleading with them for their understanding. And when they withhold this understanding, we feel our firm decision begin to waver. Maybe one more time…

Beware! This is the time to stand firm. Hold on to the love you have for your child. Hold fast to your decision to be a good parent, to help your child become a worthwhile adult.

Your son will understand, but not while you are explaining. The understanding may come a week, a month, a year from the moment that you explain. Your child has become so used to being coddled by you that this sudden removal of the buffer feels like he’s been thrown into the sea when he can’t swim. What’s worse, you’re not even handing him a life-belt!

Such behavior confuses the child, frightens him. It shakes the solid foundations of his world, because he has never before known what it was like for you not to have set things right for him. The rages, the harsh words, are just his way of venting, of telling you he’s feeling abandoned.

But it is best they go through this feeling early, while you are still around to hold their hand and help them make sense of things. Tell your daughter this. When you tell her, she may see the point, or she may not. What is important is that you are not apologetic or defensive about your actions.  And you are consistent about letting her bear the results of her action or inaction.

After he’s half-drowned, half-paddled his way out, help pump the sea water out of his stomach. Give him a hot bath and a back rub. Tuck him up in bed with a cup of hot soup and sit with him as you both relive his ‘drowning’ experience. He will know that you still love him, that you still care.

And then, follow through on what you have said. After all, you want to be a person of your word.

Sure there will be scenes. So what? There are scenes anyway. At least these will be scenes you are directing! And before you know it, you’ll have a runaway success on your hands.

Posted in Discipline | 13 Comments

When Too Much Love is Not Enough

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Vinita Zutshi

When you first set eyes on your newborn, along with the rush of love, was a surge of protectiveness. A part of you swore to shield your child from all hurt, all pain. And you went on from there – bandaging hurt limbs, massaging aching bodies, hugging away fears, kissing away tears…

You were sure that if you loved your child enough, you’d be able to keep him safe from the hurts, barbs and cruelties of the world.

You have too much love for your child. You love him so much that you can’t bear to see him suffer; whether the suffering is due to an unfriendly playmate, not being able to watch his favourite TV show, or her not being the captain of the sports team. So you step in to manage the situation. You speak with the unfriendly playmate (or his/her parents). You offer your son a treat to make up for missing the TV show. You get your daughter extra coaching and speak with the coach to do whatever it takes to ensure she can be the captain of the team.

As the years go by, you realize that something has gone wrong. It has gone so radically wrong, that you can’t begin to think what happened, or figure out how it happened. If you try to work it out, your mind goes fuzzy. You can’t think beyond the fact that something about your child is not right.

Suddenly, you find he is not willing to put in his best. You find that he throws a tantrum every time he doesn’t get his way. And if he does get his way, he is not appreciative of the fact. Instead, he takes it as his due, as if he were royalty, and that is the way things should be.

This is a classic instance of when too much love is not enough.

The real world is tough. You keep saying this to yourself and maybe to your kids too. You know it. The point is: You do everything in your power to make sure that they don’t experience the truth of this. But the more you protect them, and the longer you protect them for, the more hard hit they will be when they find out this truth.

Why do you want to protect them from this knowledge? Maybe you feel they are too young, too delicate, too weak to handle the pressures and the pain of the real world. Alright. Let’s say that’s true. When do you think they’ll be strong enough? When he is two and can walk on his own? When she is five and starts going to school? When he can read and write? When she starts driving? Gets a job? Starts a family? At what point will he be old enough to face the real world?

Whatever time you decide to introduce your child to the real world, they will find it tough. In fact, the more you delay, the harder it will be for them, because it will come as a shock. No Mom to play referee! No Dad to say, “Sure! I’ll get you the latest toy.”

I will say it again. Too much love is not enough. It is not enough love.

Enough love is when you let your child face small problems, little difficulties every day. He learns that there will always be challenges. And he will learn to overcome them. He will feel the glow of accomplishment that comes with ‘growing up’.

She’s hungry, but has to wait quietly for 10 minutes before dinner is served. She does this just like hungry grown-ups do. That’s growing up. And she’ll feel on top of the world for behaving like an adult!

He wants to go and play, but needs to finish his homework first. No, he can’t come back and finish it later because he’ll be too tired to do a good job. So first he finishes his work, and then he goes to play. Just like Mom works all day at the office, gets paid at the end of the month, and then enjoys the money. First work, then enjoyment. That’s how adults do it, and if he does it, he’s practising becoming an adult.

Try it. I promise it will work. Because the one thing children want to do – all children, without exception – is to grow up. They want to be big and strong and powerful, just like their parents. This, of course, is when they are very little. When they are slightly older, they want to be big and strong and powerful, and much better than their parents (who are old fuddy-duddies who just don’t get it!). 🙂

And the truth is, that is exactly what parenting is about: helping children to become grown-ups.

My definition is slightly different – Parenting, I believe, is about helping children become worthwhile adults. And the best time to start is the moment you become a parent (actually it’s before you become a parent, but let’s set that aside for the moment). Indulge your protectiveness, but think before you do so, lest your child becomes a victim of too much love.

Not all children are friendly. Not all people are kind. The world is too random to make each day predictable. And various issues, large and small, crop up all the time. I’m not saying share the details with your kids. But let them know that these are real-life situations. And let them get practice on living a real life from day one.

It is a carefree style of parenting, and the one guaranteed way to make you a carefree parent.

But what if your kids have had too much love? How do you get them back on track? Read on tomorrow.

Posted in Love | 28 Comments