I've had the opportunity, in recent weeks, to witness a variety of different parenting styles by watching the interactions between parents and children of various friends and family members. And the thought suddenly occurred to me:

As parents, what is our primary motivation during each parenting interlude? Do we parent, ie. guide, teach and nurture our children so that their behavior and actions are convenient for us, or do we parent our children so that their behavior and actions are good for them?

Most of us, I assume, would prefer to answer the question with the latter statement. But is that how we parent on a routine basis?

And if we parent more in the above, former mentioned style, how is that helping us and our children in the long run? What lessons does the "parenting for convenience" approach ultimately teach our children?

What are your thoughts???