I think you did a great job of writing about being a parent while not being a parent; lots of disclaimers and "I know that I don't know!"s. I admire your courage.
Also, I was traumatized by that London story and every dog-death book I read, and still am. I stopped reading one of my favorite series, "The Dark is… Read more

Please don't feel you need to apologize for your mother speaking up for you when you were still in high school if you didn't feel like you could do it for yourself. High school students are not mini-adults. As one of my friends once said to me, "I know he's in high school, but I'm not done with him yet." Read more

I'm in the midst of a panic attack (slowly abating thanks to some controlled prescription narcotics) as I pack for a trip where my almost 5 year old son will be attending an outdoor adventure camp for a week. I spent hours trekking around my city looking for the just right sized back pack for him to carry around as he… Read more

It doesn't matter how indulgent or non-indulgent you are, there will always be someone around to say that whatever you are doing is wrong, and that your kids will be monumentally and irreversibly screwed up because of it. When they reach "adulthood", whenever that happens these days since the goalposts are… Read more

"(I)put the food on the kids’ plates … and cleared the plates." How in the world is this considered over-indulgent? I mean, we are talking about preschoolers here, aren't we? I don't allow my preschooler to dish up her own food or clear plates yet. Read more

The rules my parents raised me with were simple, but always kept, no exceptions. Read more

I think the answer is pretty simple. Read more

Mom and teacher here. I don't have all the answers, but this is what I think to myself when I need some comfort that I'm doing it okay: Read more

i can only speak for myself and my experience. my mom made me do chores daily, ones that i could handle age-appropriately. i had to watch my younger brother frequently so she could work or go to school. my step-dad also insisted i complete my chores before any "fun" activities were done, but i also received a small… Read more

We all, as parents, do the best we can, at any given moment. End of story. Read more

As a parent, I am so tired of worrying about whether I am “overindulgent”. Read more

I am ever so close to embarking on this journey called motherhood & I think A LOT about how we are going to raise our daughter. Both my partner and I were raised by single mothers where the "indulgence" in material things was limited, but the "indulgence" in our behaviors was more liberal considering limited time &… Read more

My parents were distant. I'm the baby of four and they were basically done and exhausted. I was never grounded. I had rules and chores but nothing was really ever enforced. They didn't help me with my schoolwork or care about my report card. They told me that not only would they not pay for college, but they… Read more

Parenting Advice by Me: Read more

Okay, I also never had any chores to do around the house and grounding did not exist in our family. That doesn't mean there was no discipline or that my parents were indulgent. I don't know if that made me better or worse, but I'm okay so I guess it didn't backfire spectacularly or anything. Then again, I've seen… Read more

If a child "makes" a parent phone the school and complain about the child's grades, that parent is over-indulgent. If I'd tried to persuade my parents to do that, I'd have been told in no uncertain terms that the way to get better grades was to do better. And trying to "make" my parents do anything would have been… Read more

But if you withhold too much then you get a whole nother set of problems

"I made her call my teachers and argue about the Fs that I'd receive quite frequently." Read more

This is really relevant for me right now. My daughter is almost six and I was just today having a conversation with friends of kids who are the same age about how damn entitled it seems our children are. My husband and I have wondered to each other whether our daughter has premature PMS because of the slights she… Read more