Just because you disagree does not make either person wrong or right!

Parenting!
OMG!

It is the hardest and most important job in the world. It can be stressful, exhausting and confusing!

But...

It is the best job in the world and like anything, if it was easy it wouldn't be so rewarding!

People ask me all the time "How do you do it?"

With six kids it is a challenge, but I think it is just as challenging to raise 1. At the end of the day parents are just trying to do what is best for their child or children. We are all trying to raise productive, kind and honest members of society. We are all trying to get our children to adulthood without leaving anyscars or causing any damage. We all face the same fears and doubts and we all have the same emence responsibility.

In our family the biggest challenge we face is when we disagree as parents. How to handle certain situations often brings us to blows. Each of us argue our side of things and I hate to admit it but at least half the time we can't agree. This brings us to the inevitable argument of who is right and who is wrong?

Let's face it, children of all ages need discipline. It may be the 3 year old who needs to learn how to share or the 12 year old who deliberately choose to ignore the rules. But how do you handle these situations when you can't agree on what needs to be done.

In my opinion we are both right. Just because we want to address the issue at hand in a different manner does not immediately render one of us incorrect. Usually both myself and my partner have valid reasons for our point of view, unfortunately we are both very stubborn and tend to forget that in the end dealing with the situation at hand is far more important than who's method we choose to use.

Or is it?

If you honestly believe that your partner is handling a situation with your children the wrong way, what do you do? Your a team. Heading into unknown waters in separate boats is only going to cause more drama.

This brings me to the point of this post. If we were to take a step back and bend a little. Try to meet in the middle rather than dragging each other to the far left or right we might make some headway.

If we acknowledge that in the end we both have the best interests of our children at heart we may be able to overcome the biggest hurdle in our parenting relationship.

Recognising that everyone looks at any given situation through their own eyes and sees it from their perspective, their life history and experience. Realising that everyone is different and that communication is more effective when we listen and discuss rather than shutting down the other persons opinion, even when we disagree.

I think it is better to agree that we have a difference of opinion rather than argue over who's solution is right and who's is wrong.

On this basis we have decided that for he next month all situations where an agreement can not be reached. Josh, my partner will have the last word. Then, in the following month, my solutions will be put in place. While neither of us is under the assumption that this is going to solve all our parental issues. We are certain that this idea will at least reduce the number of arguments over the coming 8 weeks and hopefully help us discover what works best in certain situations.

I'm sure at the end of this little experiment we will discover that we are both right and both wrong. It certainly will be interesting to see what comes about at the end. I have a feeling that we are about to discover that both our methods of parenting are successful in different circumstances. At the end we plan to put into practice the best solutions regardless of whom they came from.

Again, I'm sure that we are going to see, there is no right or wrong way to raise your children as long as you have their best interests at heart.

That being said, this mum is looking forward to not having to hand out the time outs and groundings for the next four weeks.

Please feel free to share your opinions! I would really like some feedback from other parents on how they handle different situations when they don't ageee with their other half!

Thanks for reading @mumofmany.