This is why I never have any faith research designed, it seems to me, solely to make parents guilty. Those surveys that tell you are emotionally scarring your child for life if you work/don't work, send them to nursery/don't send them to nursery, let them watch television/don't let them watch television. For such clever people these academics are disturbingly indecisive.
The latest quack theory to come out is that we are ruining our children by praising them too highly. Now I admit I am guilty of telling my sons that everything they do is amazing, from their tuneless songs to their scribbled drawings, but that's because, to me, they are amazing.
What do these boffins suggest I do when my son presents me with his latest glitter-coated offering? Question his excessive use of Pritt Stick and critique his colour combinations? I don't care what any survey says, I am sure that would leave my boys with a whole lot more emotional problems than growing up in the sure knowledge that mummy is the one person in the world who will always appreciate their efforts, no matter how cack-handed.
The only thing that slightly weakens my theory is that I fervently pray it doesn't lead to any of my children becoming one of those deluded X-Factor contestants who warbles like a stuck pig at the judges and when asked who told them they could sing, answers 'My mum'.
Ah - next week it will be something else.
ReplyDeleteI praise my children, but I equally scream at them like a psychotic banshee.
What would we laugh at if there were no deluded warblers at the X-Factor auditions? It's the only part I watch.