I don't always love going to the dentist but when it's just for a cleaning it can actually turn out to be a nice way to spend an hour. Yesterday I went for my visit and I love talking to the hygienist. She has two teenagers...a girl and a boy...so I love hearing her views on parenting! Sometimes I feel like Kelly and I are part of the minority as far as parents go. We don't rush out and buy our kids the latest toy, my kids don't have cell phones, a Wii or their own laptops....they don't even know what Facebook is. There are times when I feel like we are the only parents that haven't introduced these things to their kids...so it's nice to come across another parent who is on the same page...it's very encouraging. The hygienist told me her kids didn't get cell phones until 7th grade...mainly because they were very involved in sports and needed to be able to reach their parents to let them know of any changes in games. Also, they are not allowed to have their cell phones turned on from 8-3 during the school week...which they check each month on the cell phone report. Their kids are not allowed to delete any texts that they send or receive until they have also been checked at the end of the month. If they don't follow these rules they lose their phones. She explained that they make it clear to their kids that it's not that they don't trust them...but in this day and time it's better to be safe than sorry...and staying involved in what your kids do is very necessary. I think those are great ways to monitor the use of cell phones...it gave me some really good ideas. Like she said...there are so many parents now that want to be "friends" w/ their children and they don't want to be a parent to them. It's really sad....they need parents...not more friends. I know I love my kids way more than any friend will ever love them and when they grow up and look back on the way Kelly and I raised them they will hopefully appreciate the choices we made on how to parent them. There will be times when they don't understand why they can't have something that another child has...but that is life...and hopefully that will better prepare them for life as adults and help them to not always want what they don't need or can't have. I can say from personal experience that I wish my parents would have been stricter when I was a kid...I honestly think that deep down all kids want that...whether they would admit to it or not...they want to feel like their parents truly care about them even if that means saying "No" sometimes.
I don't think Kelly and I are perfect parents or that our kids aren't going to mess up and do things they shouldn't...but we will try our hardest to make the right choices for them while they are in our care. God entrusted us with our children...they are our responsibility...I just hope He gives us the parenting skills we need when they hit those wonderful teen years!!!
I just wanted to share this post with those parents who think they are alone when it comes to being this type of parent...stick to what you believe is right for your children and know you're not alone!
