Our kids are pretty forgiving. Often times when we screw up they keep loving us. They seem to know that we love them even when we get it wrong or do it badly. And we keep trying to do a good job.
Eventually they become teenagers and we go crazy. We thought we knew them and taught them well, and suddenly they start talking back and making ill-considered impulsive decisions. And then, the crazy part is, we ask them what were they thinking!! Do we really think they have an answer? Do we have an answer when we do stupid things. . . like asking them what were they thinking? Of course in both cases the answer is "We weren't thinking!"
This recent NPR story has some interesting insights, and a really good idea about balanced consequences to poor decision making. It takes about nine minutes.
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