Parenting is not an easy task. Each parent has its own way of dealing with their children. Being too strict won’t help. There should be a fine line in being liberal and strict. Read this story between two sister’s and their upbringing of their kids and let us know what you think of this situation.
Source: Reddit
I (32F) have a 14 year old daughter Jess. Her father and my husband died in an accident when she was young, so it’s been just us two for a long time. As a result we are very close and she’s a lot more open to me then most kids are with their parents. Around a week ago she asked me if I could take her to the movies on a date with a guy in her class. I know the guy distantly because they’ve done some extra curriculars together and I was thrilled he was my daughters first ‘boyfriend’. I took them a few days ago and they ended up hanging out at our house for a bit afterwards. He was extremely polite and maybe it’s just the mum inside me but I couldn’t be happier for her.
I went to my older sister’s house for coffee earlier this morning. Backstory, my sister has two teenagers (16 and 17), who live almost full time with their dad. They had a very messy divorce around three years ago, and both kids choose to live with their dad. The reason for this was because my sister was extremely over bearing on them. She was the kind of mum who believed kids should have no privacy and she should run their lives until they were adults. I know she had many arguments with them because she would take away their doors, not let them hang out with friends, search through their phones every night etc. This was the primary reason for her divorce, although she won’t admit that. While I love her, as someone who grew up with little privacy I fully understand why her kids don’t want to live with her.
My daughter came up in conversation and so brought up her first date. When I explained how it went, my sister laughed and told me that I must be joking. When she realised I was serious, she told me I was a terrible mother for letting my daughter walk all over me and not setting boundaries. She ranted on for a while but she basically said that 14 year olds are incapable of going out themselves and that I was being lazy and neglectful by allowing her to do that. She also said ‘I would never allow my kids to do that,’ so I replied by saying ‘That’s exactly why your kids drive with their dad.’ She got very quiet and then told me to leave. When I got home I started thinking more about what I said and while at the time I thought I was simply telling her what she needed to hear, now I’m wondering if I crossed the line. Did I go too far here?
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