The Daily Dad

What are Your Rules?

Dec 3, 2019

02:18

Snipd AI

The podcast explores the importance of establishing rules as a parent, sharing personal regrets and emphasizing the need for logical and consistent rules to provide structure and clarity in children's lives.

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Establishing clear expectations and rules for children creates structure and benefits their development.

Explaining the logic behind rules fosters understanding and appreciation for structure in the long run.

Deep dives

The Importance of Setting Rules and Structure

Setting and implementing rules for children is an essential part of being a parent. Roseanne Cash, in her memoir, reflects on her experience as a parent and regrets not imposing more structure and rules for her young children. While it may be tempting to make ad hoc decisions in the moment, having established rules provides consistency and clarity for children. By establishing clear expectations for chores, behaviors, and habits, parents create a sense of structure that can benefit their children's development and overall well-being.

The Importance of Establishing Rules as a Parent

2min

In her memoir, Composed, Rosanne Cash talks about how she wished she was as a parent of small children and how different that was from the reality. She recalls that her biggest rule ended up being no juice after 5pm. Why? Something about sugar before bed. In any case, although she knows she did the best she could, Rosanne looks back and wishes she had imposed more structure, more rules on her young children.

That’s something we have to think about as dads. Part of the job of a parent is to come up with the rules of the house and to enforce them (and for them to make sense too!). Winging it might seem better, except that means you’re judging every situation anew—deciding in the moment what to allow and what not to. Letting things slide might seem easier, but the chaos that flows from it is much more difficult.

So what are the rules of your house? What’s expected of your kids—in terms of chores, behaviors, and habits? What’s forbidden? What don’t we do in this house? Are you firm about the rules? Do you make sure everyone follows them, including yourself? And then, crucially, what is the logic behind these rules and can you explain them in a way that gets real buy in and understanding? A father is not a tyrant...but a person who makes arbitrary rules without explaining them is.

Create some rules. Stick to them. Be fair about them. Your kids might not love them now, but when they look back on their childhood, they will at least be grateful for the structure and the clarity they provided.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.