I can only hope your interaction with your children contains more depth than this statement. The dynamics of friendship can be broad and run from very shallow acquaintances to deep inner-personal relationships.
The intricacies of a healthy parent/child relationship has many elements and vary widely even between one kid to the next. We're all unique individuals as are our kids.
The core component of any functional relationship is communication and a good parent should engage on many levels... at times authoritarian when it's needed. At times discussing feelings towards events/incidents... 2-way interaction. There are perfectly good times to sit down and play together... especially at younger ages. This develops a firm foundation when parenting becomes a real challenge...
Teenagers and early adult ages is a real critical time in their development. It's also one of the most challenging to engage from a parental perspective because they are growing into their own independently thinking person. It's a real balancing act in allowing them to experience freedom, make choices, understand consequences and know when to reel them back in for their own good. If you didn't develop solid communication and trust when they were younger than you're most likely going to experience total hell when they reach 15/16. Point is you better have some element of "friendship" or at least the basic trust and communication avenues to engage them as young adults because I can guarantee you... going hard ass authoritative on them isn't going to get through to them no matter how tough you choose to be.
The intricacies of a healthy parent/child relationship has many elements and vary widely even between one kid to the next. We're all unique individuals as are our kids.
The core component of any functional relationship is communication and a good parent should engage on many levels... at times authoritarian when it's needed. At times discussing feelings towards events/incidents... 2-way interaction. There are perfectly good times to sit down and play together... especially at younger ages. This develops a firm foundation when parenting becomes a real challenge...
Teenagers and early adult ages is a real critical time in their development. It's also one of the most challenging to engage from a parental perspective because they are growing into their own independently thinking person. It's a real balancing act in allowing them to experience freedom, make choices, understand consequences and know when to reel them back in for their own good. If you didn't develop solid communication and trust when they were younger than you're most likely going to experience total hell when they reach 15/16. Point is you better have some element of "friendship" or at least the basic trust and communication avenues to engage them as young adults because I can guarantee you... going hard ass authoritative on them isn't going to get through to them no matter how tough you choose to be.
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