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If have one "mantra" that drives your parenting philosophy...


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"Don't strangle them. It's illegal."

 

HA! My first thought was something along those lines. LOL

 

While I was reading the thread, you posted my words!!!

 

Don't be like your mother

Don't be like your mother

Don't be like your mother.......

 

Wash rinse repeat.

 

My kids actually thank me for NOT being like my mother. If I never do anything right for the rest of my life, I at least have that.

 

Anyway, what I find myself saying a lot is, "There's more than one way to skin a cat." I tell dd this frequently when she's hit a wall and can't figure something out. If the way she's doing it isn't working, there are other ways.

Also, "Do the hard thing" and "Take initiative" are other lines I frequently say.

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I have more than one:

 

Focus on the moment you're in.

 

Look at them as if you see them, really see them. (Reference Our Town: "Oh, Mama, look at me one minute as though you really saw me.")

 

And when it comes to parenting younger children:

 

Put them in situations in which they can succeed.

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Nothing worth having comes easy. You have to work for it.

 

Giving up is not an option.

 

Attitude, more than aptitude, determines success.

 

Doing nothing is not an option. If you don't know what you want to do/be, choose something & aim for that. If you later change your mind / direction, at least you've made some progress.

 

"I took the road less traveled by & that made all the difference." (Robert Frost)

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Start as you mean to go on.

 

Don't threaten something you won't follow through. Don't punish in a way you wouldn't do long term. Don't sleep with that baby if you don't want to long term. Don't give that pacifier if you don't want it long term. In other words, be consistent from day one. We don't let our kids push us to do something 'just this once'. If I don't want it to happen again, I don't do it to begin with. It's helped both dh and I not start bad habits and keep each other accountable on some decisions that would have been easier to do something different 'just that once'.

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"Remember, you are special and unique. Just like everyone else."

 

Love this!

 

"Avoid everything that my own parents did wrong."

 

"Stop complaining."

 

 

- My children would agree with these. :D And they would add - "Be careful." :tongue_smilie:

 

Children are washable.

 

 

I needed to hear this.

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"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

Love This!

It's a marathon not a sprint. When you get to then end of your rope, tie a knot and swing for a bit.

I've never heard the second sentence of this one, but it is great!

 

"Don't strangle them. It's illegal."

My similar thought is that the hospital has a strict, "No Returns" policy. I know, I checked. Also, I lost the Instruction Manual that the hospital gave out when you were born. Oops!

from the Siegfried & Roy website

 

"We believe that there are always two choices … two paths to take.

One is easy and its only reward is that it is easy."

This is great too!

 

I don't really think I have a mantra and I never really thought about it. I guess the closest thing for me would be something I tell the kids:

 

"Just put it on the list for your therapist for when you're all grown-up."

 

The kids may not like it, but they'll live. We all have things that we wish our parents did/didn't do and from which we feel "scarred." I just try to have a sense of humor about that fact that I am human and will make mistakes. Kids need to understand that parents are doing the best we can under the circumstances.

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