Les Jones: Without Hyprocrisy Parenting Would Be Impossible

April 10, 2007

Home Life > Without Hyprocrisy Parenting Would Be Impossible

This Slashdot article is titled " You Played Violent Games - Why Can't Your Kids?"

The answer to that question - spread across a whole realm of human behaviors - is "because I said so." And more generally, "just because I did it doesn't mean it's the best thing." Here are the things I say to my oldest daughter all the time:

"Katie, you can't just eat candy and chocolate milk. You have to eat real food first."

"Katie, you can't kick and scream just because you want something at the store."

And those are the things I did at her age that I no longer do. How about these?

"No, Katie, you can't drink Coke."

"No, Katie, you can't have this. This is daddy's special drink."

And she's only two. Sheesh. Imagine what a hypocrite I'll be by the time she's a teenager. The fact that I did it doesn't mean my kids magically get a free pass for the same behavior. I'm trying to improve my own behavior, but if it comes down to it I'll just have to risk being accused of being a hypocrite on an awful lot of issues.

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Comments

As a father, I can tell you that your strategy will work until your daughter hits about four. Then she'll wise up. There's really no easy way around it. Just because you did something in your youth doesn't mean it was right. In fact, the best thing to do is to admit that you were wrong to have done those things back in the day.

Kids are smarter than we realize. They watch what we do, not what we say. But they can't see what you did as a young'n; you can always keep that hidden unless some bumptious sibling comes around...

Posted by: Elrod at April 10, 2007