On vacation, I noticed an awesome mom sheparding five kids between the pool and the beach and back again all day long. She was totally on it. Strict, but efficient.
At the end of the day, when she was disciplining the youngest one, another mother approached her and started throwing a fit. It turns out the awesome mom of five was really an awesome mom of two who was doing a family member a favor by watching her three young kids all day. How did the family member repay her kindness? By pitching a fit over a difference in their discipline styles.
It’s an interesting dilemna. If you are doing a friend or family member a favor by watching their kids for them, are you obliged to follow their discipline approach or should you discipline the friend/relative’s child as you would your own? Some might argue that it is confusing for your own children to see you change the rules for other children. Others feel strongly that you should never discipline another person’s child.
What do you think? Has something like this ever happened to you?
One Comment
This happens to me quite a bit, the struggle that is, because I tend to be more strict than a lot of my friends. My feelings however, are that if their parent is not around, we go by my rules. I’m always very communicative about this with the kids and they always respond well. In my experience, kids tend to behave better for people who aren’t their parents anyway and I never have many issues!