Found on the Back: Parenting Advice

This parenting advice came out a long time ago.

Judging from the knit on the pants, it isn’t new. Shall we take a closer look at those pants?

It would be easy to dismiss this advice based on the pants alone. But that would be a mistake.

Also, don’t judge the parenting advice based on the quaint old-fashionedness of this little gem.

As you get over the phrasing, you’ll see that the actual recommendation is to talk to your child about things that they are interested in. (Or not interested in depending on your child and the suggestion of asking about school.) Novel parenting advice, huh?

This next little bit, however, gets forgotten.

I remember learning about this in English class throughout my schooling. Context clues. Your child is not going to view things through an adult perspective. They will not understand the implications of everything else going on.

Yep, I know.

I get it.

I recently spent hundreds of hours studying for and passing my CBAP exam. By this point you are asking what studying to become a Certified Business Analyst Professional has to do with ancient parenting advice. It’s ok. I’m going to explain.

When analyzing a problem to be solved, remember to look at the problem from all viewpoints. (You never know where you are going to get information that will help you in another part of your life.) Therefore, I believe all of my kids when they tell me something. So when all 3 of them run up to me to tell me the story of why my youngest is crying, I know that each and everyone is telling me the truth.

It’s their version of the truth to be sure (And frankly sometimes it is not the truth. Kids lie. It happens.) But this is when when having some experience helps.

If I only listened to my oldest, I would know that he absolutely did nothing in the entire situation and he was an innocent bystander.

Listening only to my middle child, only, I would know that his behavior was driven by his sister being “annoying”.

If I listened only to my youngest, I would know that the world was ending and that each of her brothers was the “worst brother in the world”.

Same situation. Each one of them was there. A lot of times, I either witness these interactions because I’ve either watched them or listened to them play out.

Which causes me to have my own viewpoint.

A quick PERT analysis of the situation…((Optimistic estimate + pessimistic estimate+ (4 x most likely estimate))/6) means that they all need a lecture about what their role was. Usually followed by a piece of advice to change a behavior that escalated the situation.

The advice in the article suggests using other adult’s opinions to help understand the context further.

Old or new, parenting is still parenting. I am old enough that my mom could have read this same advice. She could’ve applied it to parenting me and my siblings.

From one generation to the next, some things never change.

If you like this “Found on the Back” check out these other ones: True Crime, TV advertisement, Grocery List.