Dr. Evil

Really, how often do you see a kid in their teens point to their parents and brag, "Yeah, that's my parent. Eat your heart out!"

I wouldn't doubt Bill Gates' kids do that.

I learned to recognize my kids and my wife's siblings by their butts. That was all I could see when I walked into the kitchen and found them with their nose in the fridge

Lol.

It's not a pretty site. And when my sister-in-law hit puberty, I dared not go in the kitchen that decade when she was over

By the to.e she was legal age interest was lost. She was already on her second? pregnancy by eighteen and that interesting figure was not as appealing.

I like to smack mines ass! Then ask folks what the hell they're looking at! :)

If you haven't set parameters for your child by the time they're five, you're in for a struggle.

Friend of mine oldest tried that. He told him go ahead and call as he wouldn't be going anywhere, but his kid would.

My brother has a daughter who in her early teens was bound and determined to go to a school dance even though she was grounded but snuck out the window and went anyhow . When her father saw she left her room he went to the school to retrieve her. Needless to say, my niece was scared witless and told the teachers what she did and didn't feel 'safe'. Needless to say child services intervened and took her overnight infuriating my brother. Afterwards they had a long talk and things started improving. My brother claims parenting boils down to a balance of guidance, compromise and mutual respect instead of using strict disciplinarian measures. Personally though? I think it depends on the child!

Oh I agree, but sometimes the shock value works. Children aren't thinking things through and when your response catches them off guard it can be a good thing. Letting my boy know that not only would I not take his side, but told him I would see the teacher got a raise for having to deal with his attitude, he realized the crap other kids told him was mostly bullshit.

Same thing with my friend with his kid threatening to call DSS. They had heard it from another kid and thought it was a magical get out of jail free card, but when called on it they folded.

I never punished my kid for his admission either. My setting the rules did its job and years later he thanked me because he had grown up and now realized how I actually protected him then from himself.

It does depend on the child. Another thing you hit on was mutual respect. First and foremost be a parent, then a best friend

My youngest was getting in trouble in one class. I asked him what was going on and he told me he was trying to get the teacher to hit him so he would lose his job.

I told him if that happened to come get me right away so we could march right back to the teacher so I could hold him down while teacher hit him again. He stopped acting up.

And now he has two girls just starting school.

Haha. Every parent knows what their kid is capable of doing. If I found out that a teacher let my son have it, my first words would be, "What did you do?"

Just wanted to say that I'm not trying to give any advice on how to raise your kids. I'm NOT THAT GUY. Just telling you what worked for me and friends and family members and how fun it can be. Also I'm not saying that child abuse is okay. It's wrong morally and against the law.