This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Rachel Jordan. She asked our writers,
“Have you had a negative experience in your past that has a positive or negative impact on the way you parent?”
Here are responses from some of our World Moms…
Courtney Cappallo of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“As a child and teenager I was never required to pick up after myself. I was lazy. My room was a mess! I look back at the way my brother, sister and I treated my mother — as a maid. We expected her to take care of everything. Looking back I am ashamed at my actions. I learned from my mistakes and am making a conscious effort in teaching my young children to pick up after themselves. My older daughter is required to make her bed every day, she helps set the dinner table, helps with cooking and I’ve been teaching her how to do laundry. She loves doing laundry!”
Dr. Lanham of Arizona, USA writes:
“When I grew up I had a mom who yelled a lot and it was very detrimental to how I viewed life. I was afraid to ask her anything fearing she’d yell. I didn’t want my kids to be afraid to talk to me so I made and still work on making a conscious effort to talk calmly to them. I learned that how we communicate with our kids will teach them how to communicate with the world.”
Jennifer Burden of New Jersey, USA writes:
“I grew up as an overweight child. My parents were generous with the sweet stuff. It was really just how they were raised. In our family the culture was if you ate a lot, you were healthy. And, you were a good kid, if you ate a lot. I was a pretty good kid!
My weight became unhealthy, and I was made fun of at school for being overweight.
Therefore, I try my best to keep my children active, and I really limit the amount of sweets and the type of sweets that they consume. I have learned to grocery shop and cook healthier over time, and I’m always looking for ways to help my daughters enjoy more vegetables. Do you have any?!”
Kyla P’an of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“My own mother was/is rather unaffectionate and very critical so I try to be warm and positive with my own children though sometimes I feel the dull throbbing of my past infringing upon my best attempts to right my future.”
Eva Fannon of Washington State, USA writes:
“This is a tough one. I remember as a child that some of our relatives would play favorites with kids in the family. One of my brothers ALWAYS got the most attention. It used to make me so mad (and perhaps a little jealous)! It also made me work harder at everything I did – hoping that perhaps then I would sometimes get some of the attention from my grandmother or one of my aunts.
Now I work hard to make sure that both of my girls are getting equal attention. Not only from my husband and I, but also from other family members when they are visiting.”
What about you…have you had a negative experience in your past that has a positive or negative impact on the way you parent?
And do you have a question you would like to pose to our WMB writers? If so, email us at wmbsidebareditor@gmail.com to see what they have to say.
Don’t forget to visit us tomorrow to check out the travel itinerary for next week!
– World Moms Blog
Photo credit to Nancy L. Stockdale http://www.flickr.com/photos/futurowoman/6187392501/. This photo has a creative commons attribute license.
We were forced to eat everything on our plates and I think it gave me an odd attitude to food. I also think I lost the ability to self-monitor when I was full.
Oh my goodness Karen – we used to be forced to eat everything too! I remember sitting at the table all by myself trying to swallow steamed red cabbage (which I hated as a kid) after everyone was already done eating 🙁
Totally feel you on that one. It is hard when parents have to work so hard to put food on the table. But then their kids don’t want to eat anything. Parents are lead to believe that their kids are being picky and are wasting food when they should realize that their kids are actually beginning to explore their likes and dislikes. Hopefully, the next parenthood generation will not follow this behavior.
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