Be a More Neglectful Parent (via The Washington Post)

Tracy Grant in The Washington Post:

I offer up an alternate resolution for the rest of the 2013: Be a more neglectful parent. I’m not actually advocating neglect — just a little less hovering, a little less worrying, a little less intervening. If we give it a try, we might just wind up with less gray hair and better relationships with our kids by year’s end.

via New Year’s resolution: Be a more neglectful parent – On Parenting – The Washington Post.

The author, Tracy Grant, follows up her introduction with a short Q&A with Wendy Mogel, author of two of my favorite books for educators and parents, The Blessing Of A Skinned Knee and The Blessing of a B Minus. Of the five things that Mogel shares, my favorite is: “Don’t be your child’s best friend.” In Mogel’s own words: “We [parents] take their [children] emotional temperature all the time, and if they’re unhappy, we’re unhappy.”

Also check out the link to Mogel’s own website at the bottom of the article, as well a link to her 13-step program, Overparenting Anonymous. My favorites of those 13 steps: #5 and #9. We would all do better as educators and parents if we committed those to memory.