Mean Mom...?

I have recently seen a ton of articles about why you should be a 'mean mom' and how it's good for your children. Clearly, they aren't promoting any type of violence but rather enforcing certain things a child 'needs to do. One went on to suggest "make your child eat healthy... Make you child go to bed on time...make your child clean up their toys..." (Make being the key word)

I actually have to strongly disagree with that tactic. I have only been a parent for 21 months... But, I have been someone's child for a long time and I personally detest anything that I am being made to do by my parents. I have a friend who talks about how her mom always 'made her make her bed and I can promise you now all of the times I have been to her house I have never witnessed made bed.

No one wants to be 'made to do anything, and if they are forced to I can almost guarantee there will be some type of resentment they hold on to.

I'm my 21 months of motherhood I have learned something.. Almost everything Boston does she has learned from myself... Her silly dance moves, the way she closes her eyes when she sings, her schedule, her manner, her vocabulary...So, if I want her to go to bed early instead of 'making her I should go to bed early as well...if I want her to clean her toys wouldn't it be more efficient if I kept a clean house and helped show her how to clean as well? If I am wanting her to eat healthy I should eat healthier as well.. Ect...

I personally feel that we can teach things so much easier by example rather than by 'being a mean mom'. L.R. Knost said, “It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” 

Boston will one day know what I can give her and what I can't. No matter what I do she will one day face that cruel and heartless world and I personally would much rather she face it with having known that it can be different. I'm not attempting to say that parents shouldn't help their kids to be fully functional members of society, but honestly the world is ran by 'mean people and I hope I can instill cleaning, good habits and everything a 'good person needs to know without 'making her learn them.

I have only been a mom for a short time, who knows maybe in a couple of years I will be eating my words, but for the time being I am okay going against the current popular opinion of being a 'mean mom. 

XO:

Ashlynn BRONSON