When did structure become a bad thing?
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| Fri, 07-30-2004 - 8:19am |
We used to live next door to a "no structure" family. The kids ran wild in the neighborhood, the mom never planned dinner so lord only knows if and when the kids ate. Sorry, I don't think that's a good way to live. My kids know we eat dinner at 6:30, so they have to be home.
I can see taht you wouldn't demand that an infant go to bed and wake up at precisely the same time, but is there ever a time to impose structure on a child? So lets say you are the freewheeling type and have always doen things whenever. What happens when you send your child to school where the bell rings at the same time every day?
As far as activities, I realize all kids are different, but when my kids were little, if we just did whatever, whenever, my kids woudl end up grumpy and overtired. My experience is that if say, we were at the beach and I say, oh heck, let's just stay later, the kids woudl be happy at first, but by the days end I would end up with whiny, overtired kids.
Maybe I'm just misinterpreting what I am reading, but I personally think structure is a good thing. When children are small, the structure includes naptimes, mealtimes, etc. As they get older it evolves into boundaries like "be home at 6 for dinner" or "you can't go into soemones house without telling me first". I couldn't imagine living without structure or boundaries for my kids.
Susan

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Karen
"A pocketknife is like a melody;sharp in some places,
She said, flat out her kid likes to do things other little girls do, SO she doesn't like sports, with a VERY OBVIOUS implication that most litle girls don't like sports.
I see no reason for the majority of rational, English speaking readers to ignore the rules of English grammar and definition just so we can all pretend she didn't imply little girls don't like sports.
Karen
"A pocketknife is like a melody;sharp in some places,
Karen
"A pocketknife is like a melody;sharp in some places,
Hey, whatever floats your boat. I just feel sorry for your children who are seeing such a crappy example being set by their parents.
Coconutpalms said herself in response to my question "Do you have a limit on the amount of hours you see as acceptable or, since there is no harm IYO, is an infinite amount ok?":
>>Limit tv. Why? Never mind, I know a few of the thoughts here on tv, it was a rhetorical quiestion. No, we don't limit ourselves.<<
Sounds like her family watches an "unlimited" amount to me.
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