When you have a daughter....

[Gunny Highway]

I was discussing parenting with someone the other night and the topic of giving your kids freedom came up. Tell me what you think of this.

When I was a kid, my mom was all about kids having tons of freedom. We spoke our minds and mostly did what we wanted. Mom wasn't neglectful, but she did believe in raising free thinkers that make their own decisions and bear the responsibility for them (ie. natural consequences). So she was pretty far at one end of the spectrum. My dad was not that way. He was much more forceful...more "my house, my rules" etc. But my dad was a very moral person. He tended to view things in black & white. It was right or wrong. Period. And yes, sometimes, we resented his domineering ways.

But looking back on it, his personality was exactly what was needed to offset my mom. If he hadn't been that way, if he'd been more middle-of-the-road personality, I think my sister & I might have ended up as disasters.

I wonder if this combination of two parents isn't much better than what we tend to see today, which tends to be two parents who are both more middle-of-the-road...more centrist, if you will.

I dunno. It was just something interesting to think about.