Thoughts From Benjamin
I was talking to my seven-year-old son, Benjamin, on the way home from school about my article for Novemeber. He was giving me some topic suggestions for my column about things that parents need to know to be good parents. He told me some things that he was thankful for, as well. I realized he had some pretty good ideas so I decided to let him take the lead this month. His words are breif, but they say a lot. Here are his thoughts:
A good dad is someone who plays games with me and does fun things with his kids. They don't give their children bad drugs and they help their children with homework. Dads will let you climb trees and climb on big hills and watch fun movies and get dirty with you. I like it when dads bring home presents after a trip.
A good mom will fix dinner and breakfast and lunch. They give kids medicine when they are sick and they get good babysitters if they have to go somewhere. And they take their kids on fun trips. Good moms play games with you.
I don't like it when dads and moms are sick. I also don't like it if moms and dads are mean to their kids. They should always be nice and love them. Moms and dads shouldn't punish their children a lot, but sometimes they have to do it because when kids do something bad they need to learn not do that anymore. Never throw a child on the ground. It might hurt them because grown-ups can hurt kids easy if they are not careful.
When I'm a dad, I hope my kids will be good and when I'm a dad I want to be a good dad. I'll take my family out to eat if the place we want to go is not expensive. I'll tell my children stories about when I was little and I'll tell them about things I liked to do with my dad - like when we made forts in the woods and when we did homework together.
I'm thankful that I have a family who is nice to me a lot and I wish all kids had one like mine. I love being at my home and playing with my mom or dad. I'm thankful that we have toys to play with like the computer so we can play computer games.
That's about all I can think of that makes moms and dads good.
Thanks,
Benjamin, for the suggestions. I don't see how I could improve
on his words. I think I'll try to keep these thoughts in mind,
myself.
(Dr.
Moffatt is a child therapist in private practice, author of "The
Parenting Journey" and professor of psychology at Atlanta
Christian College.)