Best parenting advice I have ever seen:

[newracer]

So they kids do the chores, help each other with homework, make dinner, and build their own cars and computers. My question is what do the parents do?

[blacklabel]

So they kids do the chores, help each other with homework, make dinner, and build their own cars and computers. My question is what do the parents do?

Increase the size of their workforce, I mean make more babies.

[HoneyBadger]

So they kids do the chores, help each other with homework, make dinner, and build their own cars and computers. My question is what do the parents do?

You think all that was possible without an incredible amount of effort from the parents? LOL

[Great-Kazoo]

You think all that was possible without an incredible amount of effort from the parents? LOL

DISCLAIMER: i didn't bother to read the story. WHY? because while it's their choice. IMO, 12 children is greedy.

12 kids is INSANE. We know 3 families that had 12-17 kids per. Some folks use birth control, others use Birth as Control. More power to them.
Our daughter started working @ 12 (same age i did) 4:30 in the am, driving her to the dairy to feed calves, before school etc etc. It's not how many or few children you have. It is how you raise them.


If you instill a sense of value & worth, along with honesty, you have done your job. Because it worked for the family of 14, doesn't mean it works for everyone. Having a honor student who does everything perfect, doesn't mean their life is .
Peer Pressure within and outside the family, issue at work, internal demons can never be accounted for outside the home.

[mcjhr]

I liked the article. I don't think financially and time wise it could work for every family but the underlying fundamentals are the same, as kazoo mentioned.

I doubt the author is telling you to have your kid repair a car. It could be a bicycle (i was refurbing rusted dumpster bikes making them into tricked out lowriders, or decked out cruisers).

Only line I didn't quite agree with was the parent not their friend. But I think it is mostly not delving into the meaning of what he meant by that. It comes off harsh, only because it is not explained.

[newracer]

You think all that was possible without an incredible amount of effort from the parents? LOL

That is kind of my point. I have two kids and it takes a lot of effort to raise them. I am part of everything they do (school, sports, chores, etc) and it takes just about all the time I have outside of work. With that many kids the parents are now relying on the older kids to supplement the parenting. The main reason I don't have more kids is I don't have the time required to raise them.

I agree with a lot that was said in the article but it is taking it a little to the extreme.

[nynco]

Reminds me of some of the stuff my dad did. At age 15 we bought a car, matching funds from my paper routes. Which I had 2 paper routes (morning and evening) and had a job washing dishes on various days and weekends. I was a greedy little kid. Anyways... that car had a blown motor, busted out windows, various damage all over and worn down. Dad said you want a car when you are 16, well fix it. Best life lesson ever. I can do any and all work on every car I have ever owned since.

[blacklabel]

Reminds me of some of the stuff my dad did. At age 15 we bought a car, matching funds from my paper routes. Which I had 2 paper routes (morning and evening) and had a job washing dishes on various days and weekends. I was a greedy little kid. Anyways... that car had a blown motor, busted out windows, various damage all over and worn down. Dad said you want a car when you are 16, well fix it. Best life lesson ever. I can do any and all work on every car I have ever owned since.

Your dad subsidized your first car? Makes sense. I kid, I kid.

[Aloha_Shooter]

So they kids do the chores, help each other with homework, make dinner, and build their own cars and computers. My question is what do the parents do?

You ever notice that a lot of times it takes more effort to show someone how to do something than to just do it yourself? I'm pretty sure the parents were pretty busy keeping track of what the kids were doing and how they were doing it. As a Scoutmaster, we have the boys "do" almost everything and yet I rarely seem to have time to do much reading or snoozing when I'm camping with them.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Reminds me of some of the stuff my dad did. At age 15 we bought a car, matching funds from my paper routes. Which I had 2 paper routes (morning and evening) and had a job washing dishes on various days and weekends. I was a greedy little kid. Anyways... that car had a blown motor, busted out windows, various damage all over and worn down. Dad said you want a car when you are 16, well fix it. Best life lesson ever. I can do any and all work on every car I have ever owned since.

My dad handed me the keys to the family station wagon. Said he'd take care of the insurance but gas and maintenance was my problem. I burned through 2.5 years of savings from my paper route just to pay for gas and oil changes on that pig in 1 year but I could change tires, oil, and sparks without breaking a sweat -- well, I DID get pretty sweaty the one time I had to use a bicycle pump to fill one of the tires ...