From the beginning of our social life, we need to prove ourselves to other people, in order to be respected. In preschool, school, university, and on our jobs, other people see us through our ability to share, our education and general knowledge, money that we earn, through the favors that we do for people, and many other things. However, there should be one place, where people should be respected unconditionally and that is a family.
At home, respect between parents is crucial. If parents don’t respect each other, kids sense that and that has a huge influence on them. You often have a situation where child asks his mother a question, and than, asks his father that same question. Children do that because parents give them different answers and they can choose who they are going to listen.
Often, one parent thinks that they know better in how to deal with children and needs to have control over them. It can be either mom or dad. It is wrong when your spouse disciplines your child, and you interrupt in front of your child and correct him or tell him that he is wrong. Later on, you will realize that your children are using those situations between the two of you, when you don’t agree. It is difficult when you cannot handle your child but you cannot ask your husband or wife to help you because you ruined his or her authority. It is also sad when you realize how good parent he or she is but you never gave him a chance because you knew better.
What is important to do, when you realize that you made a mistake buy ruining your husbands or wife’s authority is to start acting as one. You need to agree about how you are going to discipline your children and what are the boundaries that they cannot cross. This will work only if you are both consistent and give your child clear message about what behavior is allowed and what is not.
You are doing this for your family. Respect is a key ingredient in relationships in family. How your kids will grow up and what kind of young adults will they became, all depends if they are brought up in a family where people love and respect each other.