Hello, Benjamin from Brothers Campfire here!
I dropped my kids off yesterday and they went to the zoo. It had been a while for them so I glad they got to go.
Whenever your children go somewhere without you, they are heavily exposed to new experiences and challenges that they might not of you were present.
Within reason, this exposure is necessary to temper them into the men and women they will be in the future.
As I was driving home, I was reminded of this when I saw a dumpster full of toilets.
I couldn’t pass this photo opportunity up, regardless of how it was dumped on me.
Flush with energy, I climbed atop the dumpster for it had no lid. The porcelain graveyard was all mine to dig through and look for opportunities to enrich myself.
Perhaps somewhere in there was copper pipe to recycle or a maybe misplaced tool.
A cost-benefit analysis was conducted in my mind.
The first thing I thought was… I will be a meme on the Internet if someone takes a picture of me digging in a toilet dumpster.I ignored such a warning bell. Social reprecussions would not stop me from precious copper pipe mining.
Then, I looked at the toilets. Some had mold on them and some had fecal matter. There were jagged edges on the toilets that could leave a nasty scratch. I thought about Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It can last for a while on a surface.
I did not find the value in searching for copper here. Whoever headed up the work detail already considered this.
I opted to take the dirty photograph and be on my way.
The world surrounding children (and adults) is much like the sea of porcelain thrones I almost chose to engage in, but they do not always have the wherewithal to make informed choices. That is why we parent them and set good boundaries, helping them plan challenges and experiences. Do we let them explore a garbage scow of toilets?
Well, those are my thoughts on the matter. What are your thoughts on parenting?
This is an open forum and I will likely follow up my response with a question.
Author: Benjamin
Benjamin Thiel is a community leader, urban farmer, and author of The Ongoing Tale at Brothers Campfire. He might know a guy...
Toilets: Continuing their reign of terror even when they’re in a Dumpster!
Indeed a game of thrones.
‘Practice what you preach’ is a good parenting guideline, imo 💛
I agree! Showing someone seems to be better than telling someone in a lot of instances! Thank you for the guidline!
I always tought it was best to let my children make choices. But not if the chouce could be something dangerous to them. Here’s an example. I was taking my son and one of his friends in my car to a birthday party. The friend kept using foul language. I pulled the car off the road and turned it off. I looked round at the young boy and said:” You have a choice. You can stop swearing and I will take you both to the party or if you choose to continue I will turn the car around and take you home and I will explain why to your Mother. Then I will take Perry ( my son) to the party. ” There was a silence . Then my son said :”She means it!!” The boy said he would not swear again. And he didn’t . But I knew from what my son had said that my policy of getting my kids to choose had worked . He knew I would carry it through. That is also an essential part of this. the parent must follow through.
Do you think setting boundaries and expectations was detrimental to your child?
Not if I was giving them a choice. I think both of them grew up understanding that the choices they made would influence how things tunred out in their lives. So in actuality they were setting their own boundaries not me.
sounds like a winner by the way. great job!
Adequate parental control and screening is neccessary if they are under age. If they do stumble into somehting ugly or nasty, it’s better to discuss together to find out their decision making process and give guidance when we can. Emphasis is on live and learn. That’s my thought and input.
Thanks!