Pondering

Do you ever have days (or nights) where you just get to thinking about stuff that you probably shouldn't be thinking about and then you get kind of down and feeling a little bit blue? Almost like you want to cry, but you just can't figure out why? And then you wind up not crying at all because you feel like crying is just fine for other people to do but not for you to do, so you decide to write some in your blog and as you read it you realize that is sounds kind of ridiculous and you smirk at the ridiculousness of it all?

No? Is it just me, then?

Probably. I have times in my life when I start thinking about things that are going wrong, things that are going right, my son and how much he has grown and how much I have failed him over the 8 short/long years of his life. How much his dad yells and how much of an authoritarian he is, and often a control freak, too. Everything has to be his way and it has to be his way RIGHT NOW or he gets mad and has temper tantrums. And then other times he is really fun to be with and comes up with awesome ideas for family stuff to do together and we have so much fun. Life is weird sometimes.

I was looking up the definition for an authoritarian parent and Random House Unabridged Dictionary says this: 1. exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others: an authoritarian parent. 2. favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom. Yup. That's him all right.

Me? I'm the authoritative parent. I have studied child psychology for several years now and feel that the authoritative style is best, and it best suits my personality, too. It is defined as: more likely to be successful in the long run. Parents who are authoritative set rules and limits, but explain why they are necessary and take their children's point of view into account when making the rules. They communicate regularly with their children and encourage them to be independent.

Can two totally different parenting styles live harmoniously in the same household? So far we don't seem to be accomplishing that very well.

It's late now, almost 2:00 am. I need to stop for now as I have to get up early in the morning, and will pick this up again soon.