Unconditional Parenting

In an article published in the New York Times, Alfie Kohn, who, by sheer serendipity, happens to be author of a book called Unconditional Parenting, writes:

"...positive and negative conditional parenting were harmful, but in slightly different ways. The positive kind sometimes succeeded in getting children to work harder on academic tasks, but at the cost of unhealthy feelings of "internal compulsion." Negative conditional parenting didn’t even work in the short run; it just increased the teenagers' negative feelings about their parents....praising children for doing something right isn’t a meaningful alternative to pulling back or punishing when they do something wrong. Both are examples of conditional parenting, and both are counterproductive."

One more small step for unconditional parenting, unconditional love, unconditional fun.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith