In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that child's parent or grandparent.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The influence of one's parents is powerful and permanent.
Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement and action has an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent.
While having a profound impact on the development of values is surely an important job of a good parent, force-feeding opinions to them is not.
I think the power of a grandchild is it taps an instinct that people later in life also have towards... the world of nonprofits or charities. They want to leave a better place.
Parents must not only have certain ways of guiding by prohibition and permission, they must also be able to represent to the child a deep, almost somatic conviction that there is meaning in what they are doing.
It is the uninvolved parent who has to resort to strictness.
I may never know what type of effect I have on my sons, just like Granny never knew the effect she had on me. So I just try and make the best decisions that I can, be the best father that I can.
All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.
Influence is a very unpleasant subject and I deal with it in a maybe irresponsible way, which is to really ignore it. It would be a nightmare if we started to really think about it; it would tie our hands, it would tie everyone else's hands.
The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example.