Two Poll Tuesday: Are You a Parent to Your Kid(s) or a Friend?

I was sitting here, twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out what to do a poll about today and then I got distracted by the internets and lost myself on Celebitchy. And Voila! I have a topic. Ms. Brandy (remember her?!) is dropping some parenting knowledge on the rest of us. She has an interview out in Parade Magazine this week promoting her new show on VH1 (surprise, surprise) called Family Business. She is doing it with her brother Ray J (yes, THE Ray J that did the nekkid video with Kim Kardashian). Anyway, in the interview, she’s enlightening us all with some interesting gems such as this:

“A lot of mothers feel like they’re the mom first, with that authority. But for me, I’m a friend first. I believe that just being there for my daughter as a friend more than ‘I’m in charge…’ causes her to be more open with me as a person.”

Sooooo…I get this. I do. And I think what she’s saying has some merit, however, I think this can backfire. Big time (I keep seeing Lindsay and Ali Lohan). I think being a parent is your main role when your kids are young. When they are older (think 20’s, 30’s, 40’s), that’s the time for friendships. Being a parent is a constantly evolving role – nurturer, disciplinarian, teacher, counselor, mediator, confidant, etc. – but no matter what hat you may have on, you’re still the parent.

Here are some interesting pieces about the topic:

http://www.empoweringparents.com/Your-Child-is-not-Your-Friend.php

http://www.parentingscience.com/parents-be-friends.html

– Abbi