exhilaration | Deep Thoughts

25. What do you think it means to be a good parent?

Well... I guess a good parent teaches his or her children to be good people, to sum it up.

A good parent wouldn't have much in common with my own parents, either.

Everything I can think of involves teaching your children: teach them why we do the things we do, why we have bed times and why we can't just eat candy all day long, why we have to go to school and why we have to play nice with the other kids. I didn't really enjoy learning these things as a young adult/older teenager. And you know... teach them what to do when they don't know what to do. Who to go to. Where to look. What their resources are. Everything else I can think of really should go without saying: a good parent doesn't tell constant lies to their kids - it will mess them up forever. A good parent doesn't isolate their kids - AND a good parent allows their kids to have boundaries. Not any boundaries they want, it's ok if the parent sets the boundaries even, but once they're in place, a good parent will respect them.

Good parents feel bad when they fuck it up.

Bad parents make the kid feel bad.

And that's all I'm going to say on that.