im not your typical

I wonder how many people you expect will respond to your post saying "Wow! I bet your kids are gonna turn out to be great contributing citizens! Of course, some of those things aren't neccesary - why pack extra snacks when you go out if you can afford to stop and buy a healthy snack on the go? But honestly, you just sound lazy to me. It takes effort to teach a child to clean up his room and keep things organized - a skill he's not likely to pick up on his own - especially being male! And I certainly hope that the tv you are watching late at night is child appropriate. Kids can't always be happy - they have to learn some inner controls along the way, or you may have some heartache over the kind of adult he becomes.

Hi I apologize for offending you with my earlier comment. I realize that I overreacted a little to the tone of your posting. I agree with everything that Sassy said in her post about we can't always be a friend and have to set some boundaries. It's those boundaries that we set that help a child to develop internal controls - the desire to do what's right, not whatever impulse floats into the child's head. My daughter is 4, and when she was 2, she was an angel. When she turned 3 her independant spirit rose up and we had quite a challenging year. Whatever you choose to do with your child right now, just picture the current behaviour coming from your teenager but magnified ten times, and harder to modify/control. As parents we must always point our children into a balanced direction. If they are strong willed they have the potential to be leaders if they learn to consider others first. If they are followers they have the potential to make great things happen by being supporters by taking positive action and having a clear sense of what to believe and right and wrong and such. I wish you well with your parenting.

I would not say you are a bad mom. You just do a lot of things that "most" mom would/would not do. Some of the things that you say you don't do I do either. There is also a lot that I do make my kids do. Every parent has a different way of parenting, as long as your child is happy and healthy the rest may fall in place.

I wouldn't say you're a bad mother but I think that you could definitely improve for the sake of your child and his future as a responsible healthy adult. One thing a lot of parents such as yourself forget is, THAT YOU'RE HIS PARENT FIRST, NOT HIS FRIEND. That's not to say that you should not be friends with your child but parenting needs to take preferance over that. Stuff like cleaning up after himself needs to be emphasized I think. These are things that will make him a responsible adult. Also, I think it's important to set a bedtime. Kids need their sleep, more so than adults at times. It is scientifically proven that with proper sleep and a good balanced meal in the morning, kids prefromances in school are better. You need to set a bedtime for this kid. After all, he's a kid, not an adult. It almost sounds like you are using him as a substitute for adult companionship and that's not fair to him. And HE SHOULD NOT be sleeping in your bed, nough said. I think that's rediculous and I'm not going to go any further with it. Common sense should have told you that a long time ago... Also, I think it's important to spend time with your kids doing productive things such as cooking, crafts and things like that. You need that extra bond with your son. I think doing all these things now, will save you a lot of trouble when your son is a teen and an adult. If you don't set guidelines for him now, how will you be able to do it when he is a teenager and needs them more than ever. You will regret it! I suggest you watch Super Nanny, I have learned a lot of neat stuff from that show...