Worthwhile Reads: Parenting Articles

Latebloomer offers a list of “Parenting Articles Worth Sharing,” and one of my own articles made her list!

Anger Is Not a Sin, on Rachel Held Evans

During the early years, however, Jose and I practiced a parenting style consistent with what we were learning in church—negative emotions were “bad” and somehow needed to be avoided or at least taken care of quick. For our kids, this looked like being mad at them for being mad (yes, I get the irony).  Things like “Go to your room if you are angry and come out when you’re happy again!” “Stop crying now!” and “You need to change your attitude right this minute!” flowed freely from our lips.

Um, YES. I’ve read some good stuff written by people with similar backgrounds to mine about teachings on emotions – especially on “happy” being the only acceptable emotion – and one of these days I’ll get around to blogging on that topic myself. Because it’s important.

Also, Authentic Parenting offers a list of “Seven Tips to Avoid Conflict at Family Get-Togethers.” This list is geared toward dealing with people who think your parenting is batshit insane, but I actually think the tips also work well in general for those in situations like mine.