Parent as Friend

Entering my third decade as a high school teacher in the late 90s, I couldn’t say why I cringed when I would hear teenagers refer to Mom or Dad as “My Best Friend.”  Everyone in the room would beam with warmth.  To tell you the truth, it sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

On the one hand, it’s a heart-warming sentiment.  (I mean, what could be wrong with parents and children loving each other and spending a lot of quality time together?)  On the other hand, assuming that our kids already have friends of their own… and assuming that the parents also have friends of their own… a question comes to mind: Who’s minding the store in the parenting department?

Onward,  Malcolm Gauld