Children are smart, quite smart actually.

Children are quick to learn skills to outsmart you.

Children know how desperate many parents are to brag about them. You want to brag about them to your parents, friends, and social media.

Children may not know or understand the right words but they can sense your insecurity as a parent.

Children know that your sense of worth is tied to their existence and success.

As a result, they do the things that tickle you.

They have the right words, they hug you the right way, they behave well to your friends, they help in the home, they even send the right WhatsApp messages to you to screenshot and post online.

They know your MUMU button. They are smarter than you.

They tell their friends how they outsmart you.

Outside the walls of your home, away from your ego and low esteem, they bad mouth you and tell their friends how annoying and frustrating you are.

The parents on the other hand brag about them, they fight anyone who tries to correct them, they fight anyone who tries to correct them, they even deny that their children behave inappropriately.

Their kids are perfect as far as they are concerned.

Those kids have taken you for a fool and you keep riding.

The problem is that your esteem and self – worth is tied to them being your bragging rights. Their failure is a problem for you.

You compare them to others the moment they fall short of your standards.

They read your verbal and non-verbal negative communication.

Children are NOT objects; they are NOT bragging rights.

They deserve your CONSISTENT and UNCONDITIONAL love regardless of the highs and lows.

They need you to be confident in yourself to give them the energy to thrive.

Is that too much to ask?

Ronke Posh