PAP 162: Let’s Talk About Control! with Penny Williams

American culture implies that if you are in control of your child’s behavior, you are a “good parent.” But that is extremely flawed logic. Our job as parents is to guide our kids to create a life of joy, fulfillment, and success for themselves. It’s not to have little people that we control. It’s not to have someone to exert authority over. How would that benefit our kids? How would that benefit us? 

So we have to relinquish some control to our kids to teach them independence and set them up for success. But we also have to relinquish control to our kids for the benefit of their confidence and sense of competence. Kids can’t do well if we don’t allow them to make their own choices and take charge of themselves (and they can’t develop those skills either). Join me as I talk about the benefits of relinquishing control to our kids, and the importance of accepting what we cannot control and focusing our energy instead on what we can influence.