I must apologise to my readers for missing my 'Sunday sermon'.  Technical hitches with the blog site left me frustrated and unable to write a new post.  Thanks to my blog mentor, I have recovered my blog site.


Some very wise person said:
"Madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Yet we are all victims of this.  It's a kind of stupidity, mixed with stubbornness, fear of change and lack of imagination.
When I see a parent shouting, yet again, at their child who is crying, yet again, I do want to ask the parent if it has ever occurred to them that their methods of dealing with their child's behaviour are not working and have they ever thought of trying a different approach.  When it comes to children, it is worse than madness to persist with unworkable methods.  It is positively harmful over a long period of time.


One of the best mothers I ever knew used to forestall saying 'No' to her children all the time by initiating enjoyable activities for them.  She didn't wait to scold them for licking out the bowl after making icing, she would hand them spoons and say "I want that bowl cleaned out!"  This had the effect of making her children restrained in their behaviour, and as such, delightful kids. It's a shame that there are not more parents like her.