Hellobee Boards

Definitely less. My mom was a control freak (still is), and micromanaged a lot of things that didn't make sense. Plus, I'm an atheist, not a fundamentalist, so I don't have to worry about my kids going to hell if I let them listen to rock music or something random like that.

I'm hoping to be more strict in the sense that I want my husband and I to be more consistent with discipline and rules than mine were, but I also hope that the things that set my mom off when I was growing up won't be a big deal for us- what would upset my mom never made sense so it was always hard to know what the rules were. It's kind of hard to explain. Mainly I want to provide a more structured and stable environment I guess.

Less strict than my parents and more than DH's parents.

Probably less. In the sense that my parents never let me be independent - in fact they (I assume unintentionally) kept me and my siblings dependent on them for far longer than was necessary (think: college!). I hope to instill in our little one a sense of adventure and independence so he knows there is nothing he can't at least try to do!!

Less for sure. Neither of our parents probably should have been parents. There were a lot of unnecessary rules that would easily promote unhealthy relationships with others. I'm very surprised DH and I turned out normal. The same could not be said for our siblings.

Less strict than mine (although they were more controlling than strict...) and more strict than DH's (he is lucky to be alive haha). Hopefully we will balance each other out.

My mom was was just the right amount of strict. Her punishments for when we rebelled were a little out of line, so I think I'll be less severe with my punishments but just as strict.

Stricter than mine, they didn't parent a whole lot and one of us kids got away with making the entire family's life hell - the only time there were any consequences is when it involved grades. I had to be the family's policewoman, because no one else was doing it.

Hopefully I'll be just as strict as my MIL, I think she did a great job raising DH

My mom was a great parent so I hope to follow in her footsteps. We were raised by her with really clear expectations and I think that's so important. She was not strict about assigning us chores, etc. so much as wanting us to do well in school and have strong friendships.

About the same on most things. I have a hard time classifying my parents as strict or not strict because I wasn't really the type of child to misbehave... but thinking about it I think that is probably because I never really felt like they made dumb rules. Everything was always explained and open to discussion. I don't ever remember them telling me I couldn't do something that I thought I should be able to do. Plus my mom had this philosophy when I was in high school (which she did not share until I was out of high school)-- basically say yes to anything I asked to do. If it was some dumb thing with a group of people, she assume someone else's parents would put the kibosh on it, or we'd not get it together to do whatever thing it was anyways. Never back fired on her haha.

The only thing I think we'll be a bit stricter on is food. I was (still am) a super picky eater and they just let me eat whatever I wanted. I got a separate dinner every single night and ate mostly crap. Shockingly (not) I've also struggled with weight my whole life. I am trying really hard to feed LO healthy and when she's older we won't have crap food options in the house for her, nor will I be a short order cook. I'm not going to micromanage what she eats out of this house because I don't want it to be a huge control thing, but I'm also not going to buy a bunch of pop at the store if she whines for it just because her friends have it at their house.

My dad had a specific strict list of rules and boundaries, but gave me ultimate freedom within those boundaries. It worked really well and I want to do things similarly with my kids. I could go to parties and hang out with friends and never feel like I had to be deceptive with my dad. As long as I made curfew and he knew where I was 24/7, I was basically allowed to do whatever I wanted. So I happily kept him updated and was always honest with everything I was doing.

I will be more strict. My parents didn't have a lot of rules and they didn't carry out their own punishments. I'm much more into order and routine, but I lack patience. My kids will have rules and discipline for them will fit my attention span.