By Eric Tooley
What are our biggest worries regarding our kids?
A recent study of over 2,000 American adults revealed the following list:
Very good list. Several of them are the main focuses of our work at Noble Choices.
What do these worries all have in common?
The need for our children to say, “No.”
Do you teach your children to say, “no”?
Many parents actually do the opposite. They will respond to their child’s “no” with hurt, withdrawal, guilt, anger, threats, and punishment.
Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend offer the following examples of parents not allowing their children to say “no.”
Ask yourself the following:
How can we expect our teens to say no to smoking, drugs, alcohol, pornography, or teen sex if we haven’t allowed them to say no to anything else while growing up?
However, if you teach them it is safe to say “no” and allow them to practice it, they will have ten years of practice before hitting their teen years.
Don’t be a NO NO parent. Be a KNOW NO parent.
Cloud, D. H., & Townsend, D. (1992). Boundaries: When to Say Yes, When to Say No, To Take Control of Your Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. (2014, August 11). School violence, gun-related injuries in top 10 child health concerns in the U.S. Retrieved from National Poll on Children’s Health: http://mottnpch.org/sites/default/files/documents/081114_top10.pdf