Parenting Wisdom from My Child

When my daughter was about 12 years old I asked her for some parenting wisdom.  You may find this odd but I was looking for some pithy little nonsense from a child that we could laugh over for a parenting class I was preparing.  This was not kind of me, I admit, but there you go.  Sometimes we aren't the best we could be.

What I got was no less than I deserved considering my attitude on asking.  My attitude was a  little snotty ("this should be rich" I thought) and what I got was really pearls of wisdom from an 12 year old.  Here you go:

1.  Respect your kids
              
2.  When you get angry, explain why you are angry

3.  Give your girls a break when they're having their periods (guess what we had been talking about in days prior)

4.  Love them the way they are

5.  Don't leave them in the park (not sure where this came from!)

6.  Don't be a hypocrite (this was followed by a very long discussion about parents that drink and smoke while telling their children not to drink and smoke)

7.  Love them (yes, she knew this was repetitive but she felt that it should be repeated since it is so important)

8.  If you leave town, leave someone with them

9.  The harder you are on your teenagers the looser they will be (by "looser" I think she meant out of control)

10.  You can't say, "he's just a kid".  You have to say, "that's my kid that just did that".  (I happen to love this one as I so often see people excusing bad behaviors)

I promise you she reeled these off just like I wrote them.  Personally I think this is gold.......