The idea of them learning to fail is one that a friend of mine said to me some time ago... children need to learn to fail, it's your job to help them to fall safely.

Too many parents protect their children to the point at which the child relies upon their parents for everything. A problem at school - parents intervene. A bad grade - parents intervene. Then when the child finally goes out to work, it's a shock... their parents can't intervene. I don't want that to be us.

You help and straighten things out and take care of them. You are the one with the overview - but not the Wizard of Oz ;-))

Wasn't the Wizard of Oz a fraud? I'm more Dorothy... trying to help them along the way 😉

My little scarecrow has been doing martial arts for a couple of years due to him also being the Lion from the same movie... the-baby/toddler will start when he's 3 - that's the youngest that they accept. the-baby's no lion - he's fearless!

is it simply childish exuberance, a cry for attention or an adjustment disorder?

Of the 3, I think it's simply childish exuberance... I've seen children who cry for attention and they're very different to our scarecrow. Especially when their parents still ignore the bad behaviour... it's always easier to parent other people's children 😂

We know that parenting's hard. It becomes all consuming so when it goes wrong, it's difficult to process. Especially when in the back of my mind, I still see the effects on that 17 year old boy back in 1997.