My kids are now both grown up. They did try their own thing, yes. I'm not a perfect parent at all. They each separately and in different ways let me and their mother know exactly where we went wrong, once they reached the age where they could think independently and express themselves with confidence. In other words, they started to act like adults in every way. While they were still inexperienced, they started to spread their wings in many ways.
What can I say? It's what we expected to happen. It would have been disturbing, would it not, had they failed to do so? What can any parent do when ones children cease to act and think like children? We continued to listen, and where appropriate we admitted our failings and apologised. We continued to provide guidance, and this was heeded more often than not.
In this thread I've tried to avoid being judgemental. If I've failed I apologise. My aim has been to advocate for a form of child-rearing that developed organically in my own family, through the basic principle of constant dialogue.
