Well, happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.  I woke this day with the thought, “Nobody is an expert on parenthood.  I don’t care who they are or what they think they know, ALL of us are working this out a day at a time.”  Sometimes we have things going well.  Other days we have “both fingers crossed” hoping that things will not run off the rails.  

Elementary age children, actually, I think you can become an expert at parenting.  But then…. there come teen age years when the personality in the child blossoms and their own ability to act is greatly empowered and you just have to have faith that the good stuff you put in them as a child will keep them from crossing lines of authority with you. You really cannot make a teenager obey you.  You have many tactics and ways to try to influence them to obey, but really, they choose to obey or not. 

That’s why you really need to watch my “parenting your young elephant video.”