Page 43 - The Intentional Parent

If you don’t want your kids to suffer all the impairments that people suffer when they are obese, don’t buy junk food, don’t sit around the house watching television, and do promote a family value of running around outside until you are breathing a bit hard.
Becoming a competent family leader means you can’t deny the obvious outcome of being a bad role model, because if you do, your kids will be oblivious to the relationship between lifestyle and well being. All I am saying here is, that with respect to limit setting the first order of business is to lead by example, and of course to do it intentionally.
The Relationship Between Freedom and Responsibility
OK, no more lecturing you to straighten yourself out if you want to be a model for good self-control. That was only a few short paragraphs, but they are important ones.
Parents often confuse limit setting with the prior topic (“The Tau of No”), but they couldn’t be more different. You say “no” to stop the topic of a conversation happening “right now.” You set limits as part of an ongoing campaign to teach your children the relationship between freedom and responsibility. Take a look at this list of common parenting challenges:
teaching your kids to save money as opposed to spending it the second it hits their itchy little palms
teaching your kids to stay out of dangerous places
teaching your kids to respect curfews
teaching your kids to be safe when operating something that transports them (tricycle to bicycle to automobile)
The Intentional Parent by Peter J. Favaro, Ph.D. 43