parents & children

I was just wondering what parenthood is like and will I be any different, if and, when my turn comes. I had a pseudo chance when I had to be both a brother and a father to my younger brother when I was 12 years old. Many of us want to protect our children but sometimes we can overdo it. Being children ourselves, we know what the feeling is like with our parents constantly breathing down our necks. Having been through the rotan treatment myself, I feel that it should still be used but sparingly and when required. Definately not as liberally as our parents did.

One main concern most parents have is that the kids will fall into bad company and be influenced by their friends. I was just thinking, if a parent is afraid of the child being influenced by others, why don't the parent become the best friend of the child and influence the child instead?

I have come up with ideas for ways of life now and then. I am not wise. It is just that I have experienced a little more than people of my age. The so-called experiences we have in life are actually learned from the mistakes we have made.

Many parents, due to work, tend to neglect their children when they are young. They paid too much attention to their work and seldom spend the time to talk with them. When the kids entered kindergarten, they did not know how well they did in school and who their best friend are. It would be a real joke should the parent decide to go pick up the child from kindergarten only to find out that the child is already in primary school.

For many parents, they will never realise that they have failed as a parent until something untoward happeneds in the family. Unfortunately, there are the few who will still deny that they have failed.

At junctures like this, parents who have opted to become the buddy of their child will then be able to connect better with their child. How do I know this? My mum and myself is a good example.