Laura and Todd talk cleanse. No pictures, just thoughts. It’s important that parents are healthy because without that how can you give 100% to your kids? Speaking of kids, they are always growing and changing, but do parents continue to grow? Laura’s recent experience backs up her theory.

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I am writing this before our interview with Jill Milligan, who wrote a book called, Grandma Rules. I suggest you check back and see if I have written a post show blog. I usually do. Her book appears to be very light hearted and fun but it fires me up a little. Hear me out, Laura and I are trying to raise our children differently than my parents and Laura’s parents did. I want to be clear. They did the best with what they had. But that being said, sometimes Grandparents think they deserve respect from a 5 year old because they are 65 and I completely disagree. In fact, I get upset when I see a grandparent disrespecting a young child with shame, blame or other harmful words. Just because it happened to them when they were kids doesn’t mean they need to pass it on. It needs to stop and taking off a belt, or punishing a child is not the way to get the positive message across.

Now I am sure Jill isn’t focusing on this in her book. I haven’t read it yet, but Grandma Rules. There is much humor there but also some serious issues. A grandma Rule may be that they get to eat Ice Cream and watch TV for an hour right before they go to bed. I don’t like that rule. I would be much more inclined to support, a big bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce and a book or a board game. No TV. There are studies out that show how bad TV is to watch right before you go to sleep.

As for my parents, they are getting more and more used to the way Laura and I do things. Personally, I don’t think they like it, but they are keeping their mouths shut more often and letting me handle a “bad” situation. Usually these “problems” are so easy to fix. I just connect with my kid for a minute or too and presto, problem solved. Seriously, it works. My parents might say something like, “Big boys don’t cry.” or “If you want some ice cream, you better stop crying.” Do I ever get so frustrated at my kids that I want to say things like that? Yes. Have I? Probably, but it is something I aim not to do and I apologize for it, because really all a child wants is love and connection, especially when they are young. For those of you with teens, I am not there yet, but if you read up on the comparisons between 0-8 year olds and 13-18 year old, you will find they are almost identical in many ways. I suggest you scan through the book, Natural Learning Rythms – it’s right on and magical.

Many parents don’t agree with me, in fact there are a few in my own family. I will say this, my parents have 3 kids and 6 grandchildren. Of the 9, 5 can be judged pretty impartially by me. I would say my parents and my brother and his wife have done a very nice job. Of course, I will also say that of the 5, three have utilized therapy at some point with numerous benefits. I course, I won’t name names…

But back to Grandparents, I think the biggest problem I have with them is that what worked 40 years ago, may not be so good anymore. Get with the times. See the changes. Grandparent Rules? There are no rules, because each day something new is discovered and that should what we all strive for.