Teaching Responsibility

I’m not a perfect parent – in fact – far from it – but one thing I know for sure – is that teaching your kid to own up and taking responsibility for thing that he or she did – is a very important step to growing up and living an honest life. I find it so sad – when a parent starts pointing fingers at the other kid – when the kid is found stealing from our store or doing something bad. According the the parent – it’s not his kid – but the other kid he is with – and the same goes for the other kid’s parent – when I spoke with them about it. It’s easy to point fingers at the other family – the other kid – but what does it teach your kid?

Yesterday, another parent was in with her kid – wanting to rent a game – but the kid had a $30 late charge from a previous game rental. The mother said – nope she wasn’t paying for it – because it wasn’t her lates *slap forehead* – walked out – but called back and insisted that we shouldn’t have rented the game under her account but her ex-husband’s *slap forehead*. So what does it teach that kid? what would i do?

Firstly, I would pay up the amount – because it’s my kid – but I’m letting my kid go easy – that’s for sure – and I won’t be renting another game for her for a long time – till she works it off – by doing dishes or laundry or something that needs doing around the house or even the store in our case. But to argue with the store owners – to make it the store owner’s fault – now that’s the wrong way to teach your kid. Teaching responsibility should begin right now – not when your kid is 21 or 50 – it begins as soon as your kid is born. Being a responsible parent brings up responsible kids – try to remember that the next time you point fingers at other people’s kid.