Do any of you wish that your parents had been stricter disciplinarians?

Two things I wish my parents had been more adamant about are cleaning and money management.

My mom never made my sister and me keep our room clean, and very rarely had us clean up the mess. As a result I am not the best housekeeper in the world. I don’t know if this has to do with discipline, but I also wish my parents had taught me some form of money management, it would have helped avoid a LOT of stress throughout my life.

Edit: I am a parent now, and I am trying to be more strict about these things, however it is difficult to teach an old dog (me) new tricks – much less have that dog teach those tricks to her puppies!

That’s a big no from me. I did a lot of things different as a parent than my parents did. I wasn’t stricter, but I’d say the emphasis was definitely different.

No! My parents were tough on me, but it made me the man I am today. I’m thankful for their hard and lieniant times. I only hope I do as good a job raising my future children.

Yes my parents were not strict enough Maybe I would not havew gotten into drugs and alcohol had they been stricter but I know I would not be the women I am today if I hadn’t. But yes I do wish they were stictederer. Or how ever you spell that.lol.

Yes. My (single) mom gave me very little discipline. As a teenager, I thought it was fabulous that I had no curfew, smoked my first pot with my mother, and could have my boyfriends spend the night at my house…in my bed! As an adult, I am appalled. Her lack of discipline, coupled with a severe lack of the mother’s “protection gene” caused me more trouble and grief than I can express here. I am a very different parent to my girls…probably have swung too far the other way. My kids constantly tell me I’m over-protective, and overly strict…perhaps I am, but I’d rather err on the side of safety.

@Super: I wish my mom could have better prepared me for adult life (housekeeping, money habits) too, but she never had those qualities to teach me.

My parents had a pretty good balance. They taught us right from wrong. They brought us to church. They gave us avlot of love and trust. They did not teach us about money… Which was bad, but we learned. We did not have everything we wanted, but some of the things. We were poor, but they made sure we had what we needed. We had no curfews really, but we knew that drinking or bringing home people was not acceptable. We knew that drug use was unacceptable. I think they were very lucky because we could have done so many bad things. My mom and dad really trusted us and told us so, and
we never wanted to let them down.

I look back and realize I wish [other] parents were stricter with their children. Walking down the street watching how obnoxious people can be I can’t help but think: “Your parents should’ve smacked you as a child”.

Stricter? Eh, NO. My parents kept me on a short leash. A little too short. It is a balance, but sometimes they went too far…..

Yes. I learned pretty early on that I was able to get away with anything if I made a serious attempt at it – thankfully, I also figured out there are some things I shouldn’t do just because I can. Sometimes I think it would’ve been nice to have someone else set and enforce the limits of how far I could or should go, but oh well.

HEELL NOOOO! Rescue me , i don’t rest of the song. :)

I was trusted to raise myself because I was “good”. It was lonely.
There are many things I never learned and still don’t quite understand.
I’d have liked some guidance.

Nope. My parents trusted that I was a good kid and left me pretty much to my own devices. I never had to be punished for anything. Once I hit sixteen and my friends and I started getting cars and licenses, my curfew was “midnight-ish, but if you’re gonna be later than that, just call and let us know.” The rule on where I could go and what I could do and who I could get into a car with was “Use your best judgment.” I had a ton of fun and never got into any sort of trouble.

However, I have to add that I think I was probably kind of rare, and in most cases parenting like that could have been completely disastrous.

Supermouse: Agreed on both accounts.

I think my brother would have better off now if he’d been smacked a bit then.

I was raised by my grandparents. Grandparents should never have to raise their grandchildren! Heh!