A Child’s Note To Parents

These are the points for Parents:

• Don’t be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it. It makes me feel more secure.
• Don’t correct me in front of people. It will take much more notice if you talk to me in private.
• Don’t make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.
• Don’t protect me from consequence. I need to learn the hard way.
• Don’t nag. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.
• Don’t make rash promises. Remember that I feel badly let down when promises are broken.
• Don’t tax my honesty too much. I am easily frightened into telling lies.
• Don’t be inconsistent. That confuses me and makes me lose my faith in you.
• Don’t put me off when I ask you questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.
• Don’t ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.
• Don’t ever think it beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me surprisingly warm to you.
• Don’t forget I love experimenting. I could not get along without it, so please put up with it.
• Don’t forget that I cannot thrive without lots of love. But I don’t need to tell you all the time, do I?