18 October 2016

How NOT to Be Your Child’s Worst Nightmare

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Have you ever seen this meme?

I am not your friend
I am your parent
I will stalk you
I will flip out on you
Lecture
Drive you insane
Be your worst nightmare and
Hunt you down when needed
Because I love you.


Every time I see these words in my Facebook feed, I feel very sad. Why do so many people think we can’t be both parent and friend to our children? Do we really need to be their worst nightmare in order to be responsible and caring parents?

In this week’s podcast, episode 82, I talk about how NOT to be our child’s worst nightmare. I discuss the following questions:

  • How can we be both parent and friend to our children?
  • What should we do if our kids get into trouble?
  • What if we put effort into our relationships and we don’t get the response we’re hoping for?
  • Is unschooling just as much about a parent as it is about a child?
But before I talk about our relationship with our children, I first ask the question:
  • How can we become best friends with our spouses?

I also talk more about being daring and adventurous parents.

Show Notes

Michael Hyatt
Website 
This is Your Life podcast
Podcast episode: How to Become Your Spouse’s Best Friend

Blog Post
Why I Refuse to Be My Child’s Worst Nightmare

My New Children’s Novel
The Angels of Gum Tree Road: Amazon print copy
The Angels of Gum Tree Road: Lulu print copy
The Angels of Gum Tree Road: Kindle ebook

Facebook
The Not So Proper Unschoolers Facebook Group
My Stories of an Unschooling Family Facebook Page

READ  Why Sophie is Glad I'm Her Mother & Other Dusty Week Stories

My Podcast
Podcast Player with all episodes in my blog’s sidebar
on iTunes
on Podbean
How to Write a review or leave a rating in the iTunes Store or App Store
My podcast blog posts

Podcast music
60’s Quiz Show by Podington Bear(CC BY-NC 3.0)

I’d love you to stop by and share your thoughts. How do we become good friends with our kids? What do you do to nurture your family relationships?

Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

2 Comments

  1. Hi Sue,
    It is an aggressive meme, isn't it? I wonder if the parent who wrote it had a child on drugs or involved in criminal activities. Would stalking really work, do you think? I haven't faced those sorts of issues so I'm not sure what would make a parent resort to these extremes but I must admit that the words make me feel very uncomfortable.
    I agree about joining in with the swimming. After taking swimming lessons with my older children, I was able to swim with them and enjoy our pool together. I still get nervous for them at the beach, though.
    Congratulations on publishing the paperback version of The Angels of Gum Tree Road! I'm looking forward to the audio version coming out xx

  2. Vicky,

    Yes, the meme makes me feel uncomfortable too, but I'm sure that whoever wrote it cared very much about their child. Yes, as they said, they stalk and flip out and will do anything, including hunting a child to the ends of the earth, to keep them safe. It was written out of love. It's just sad that many parents feel they have to keep tight control over their kids in order to keep them safe. Maybe they haven't considered there's another way, a gentler and more respectful way to parent.

    Thank you for your congratulations. An audiobook? I'd love to make one. A project for the future, maybe!

    It's lovely to see you on my blog. I've missed chatting with you here. Thank you for stopping by!

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