Cosby Show Parenting
Someone asked me last week for advice on parenting. After getting in trouble with this question before, I have found a way to give advice without any liability … and it is actually true which helps. My advice was to stay up late at night (if you are pregnant, you are probably already awake) and watch a marathon of The Cosby Show.
What I have taken from this show, having 3 kids of my own, is that you set boundaries and basic rules (mostly for safety purposes) and let them run free within. If they get close to the boundaries, have a calm and casual discussion to remind that the boundary is there, and let them run. If they cross the boundary, calmly sit down away from others and distractions to see if they know they crossed the boundary. Most times they do and can tell you why … even if this means the reason why is that they don’t know why. Kids (and many adults I know) don’t have the impulse control to stop themselves at times and we need to remember that.
Think about how long kids have been on the planet. If you have a 5 year old, they have had 5 years to figure out how the world works and what is expected of them. The first year of that 5 can be written off as not knowing what is happening. The next 2 is learning how to survive and communicate with family, then they have to learn how to communicate with others. Then off to school to learn the history of the world and basics to navigate through it.
