The liberal parents are more likely to push a permissive approach, while the primarily-fiscal-conservative parents are more likely to abdicate the parenting role to someone else.

Still, I think that there is a point to the idea that if we were applying genuine traditional/conservative values to raising our kids, then there would be a lot fewer of these problems.

Of course, this is coming from the stay-at-home dad. What do I know? ; – )

And like I said … if washing the dog is out, then they will be making it up to you in some other way. Dog-washing has an advantage of being tied directly to what they did wrong, but that’s not absolutely necessary. Perhaps better would be to teach them the proper use for brooms … how’d you like your kitchen cleaned every Saturday for a few months?

We really do agree on the basics. Just a caution, as you go forth in the world of parenting: Bad parents cannot be so easily determined by thier obvious political philosophies. You’re going to find a lot of fiscal conservatives who raise thier children with a “bottomless pit” approach to money, a lot of God-fearing people who have absolutely nothing to do with their children’s religious education (why go to church when you can scream that the public schools should do this) right along side some good liberal thinkers who think “live and let live” should apply to their impressionable children and so on.

A good parent will NEVER mistake political philosophy with that of good, basic common sense strategies to building a human. A smart parent will understand that, unfortunately, this is often not embraced by many, many folks out there in Mommy and Daddy Land.

Preventing bunchkins from owning up to thier own bad actions is something all too common to many, many parents who misunderstand their roles as the first and best teachers to their children. Far too many parnets today have abdicated their jobs as role models when they shipped thier kids off to day care etc. so that they could chase the American dream of houses that are twice the average size than those of 25 years ago, twice the number of cars in the driveway, and 10 times as much crap in the toybox.
And (out of guilt? confusion over what it really means to be a parent? not sure) when push comes to shove, the parents are often more interested in 1) protecting their own image and 2) preventing anybody from “knowing” that their kids aren’t perfect. So they do anything they can to cover it up, deny it, even pay for the crap their kids do, without ever getting the kids involved in the solution. This is how far too many parents react to the stupid things kids do, and it’s a major reason why some kids continue to do stupid things- No consequences.

If these were my kids, you wouldn’t need to call the police, but I wouldn’t try to talk you out of it. If the kids decide to do something that stupid, then they deserve the trouble.

You would have a couple minions. If it’s physically possible (and you were interested), then they’d be charged with bathing your dog — on your schedule, and to your standards. If that’s not possible (I don’t know how big the dog is relative to the kids), then they’d be available to help, or they’d do other chores as you and I agree. Want your car washed for the year? Lawn mown? We’ll work something out that teaches that over-the-top bad behavior has profound consequences, and that those consequences include losing control over your time and doing things you don’t want to do.

That, of course, is after we’re done with the hide-tanning and the personal apologies.

And Dave…are you sure we didn’t somehow grow up in the same family? lol

Not today, nothing is ever anyone’s fault. It is always someone else’s fault, the dog for being a dog, that broomstick for being too easily assessable, etc etc.

We are back to entitlement. Pres. Obama made everyone believe he was/is going to take from the rich and give to the poor. You all are entitled to it. It is not your fault that you are in the situation that you are in.

ugh

After almost two decades as a “professional” parent, I have to say that you just haven’t looked at the whole picture. The scenarios you point out (and many more) are played out every day, and it’s not just liberal minded folks that fall into the sad situation of praising children when they haven’t earned it, who are underinvolved in religious education and overinvolved in school to the point where they write their children’s papers, lie to teachers about why the kids haven’t done thier work etc. This is a societal sickness, a majority attitude. Conservatives tell us all that most in our country identirfy as “right of center” at least, so you tell me: Is this just the fault of liberals? No way.

One family tells their children that they are special no matter what they do and that they deserve to get that trophy, the other teaches his children how to play the game better so that his son EARNS the trophy.

One family goes to chuch whever they can and teaches right from the wrong, the other teaches the child that church is useless and there is no such thing as heaven or hell (teaching that there are no consequences for actions)

One family, when thier child gets all F’s on his/her report card, runs into the school and demands to know from the principal why he is failing his son. The other, grounds his child until his grades are up, and sets up a conference to find out why his son is failing.

See a pattern emerging here? Don’t get me wrong Laurie, obviously nothing is 100%, but liberal parents typically raise worse kids than conservative parents.