How to be Parent of the Year

I would hazard a guess that almost all of us who are parents want to be good parents. We’d prefer not to raise a serial killer, for instance. We’d like to keep our daughters off the pole. We’d prefer that our children be at least 18 and in college before drunkenly getting wild tattoos or experimental piercings.

You know, at the right time.

In fact, we might be looking to raise our children into upstanding, productive citizens who will advance humanity and love life.

And yet, we get a constant barrage of cultural messages (from the media to your grandmother) of how exactly we should go about doing that. Instead of being helpful (which, hopefully, is the intent, although sometimes I suspect sabotage) we parents find ourselves overwhelmed, irritated, and up to our eyeballs in conflicting messages.

So, I’m going to make it simple for you. I have three things for you NOT to do as a parent that will almost ensure you’re recognized at the Parent of the Year award ceremony next year. You can thank me in Starbucks gift cards.

Head on over to my post at Sprocket Ink today so you can get the condensed “Avoid this!” list of parenting foux pas, and then happily move on with your day!