Malcolm GauldI had no idea that Jerry Seinfeld was such a paragon of wisdom in the parenting department. Browsing through yesterday’s Parade Magazine, I was reading the cover story on him and soon found myself exclaiming out loud to anyone who’d listen – (In my house that would be the null set.) – “Here’s a parent who gets it!”
Seinfeld was talking about what he calls the “3 Poison Ps.” First is Praise: “We tell our kids ‘Great job!’ too much.” Agreed.
Second is Problem-solving: “We refuse to let our children have problems. Problem-solving is the most important skill to develop for success in life, and we for some reason, can’t stand it if our kids have a situation that they need to ‘fix.’ Let them struggle – it’s a gift.” Uh-huh….. Yup.
Third is Pleasure. Simply put, he believes that we give too much of it to our children.
As if this isn’t profound enough, he then explains why he thinks we do this. Noting that kids are not as innocent as they once were, he says, “We feel so guilty for destroying that innocence – which is what we did – so we’re trying to repair that by creating perfect childhoods for our children.”
I vote that we invite Jerry Seinfeld to our Spring Family Weekend at Hyde. It would be a 2-fer. Hey, in addition to being a parenting expert, I hear that he’s also very funny.
Onward, Malcolm Gauld
