We meet four-year-old Emma in a charming suburban neighborhood. Emma is a lively and intelligent youngster who loves her father, David. Emma, on the other hand, has a strong sense of self and enjoys speaking her mind, particularly when things don’t go her way.
In a lighthearted game of hide-and-seek one bright afternoon, Emma is being teased by David. Emma takes offense at his jest about her hiding place and resolves to flip the joke back on him. She gives her dad a playful smile and invites him to play a new game called “talking back.”
Every time David makes fun of her or answers in a humorous way in this new game, Emma swiftly responds with her own take on “talking back.” David finds it cutesy and funny at first, but when Emma starts to respond with more sass and intelligence, he starts to think he might have found his match.
Emma’s “talking back” intensifies over the day into a string of surprising and humorous comebacks that make David fight to keep his cool. Emma enjoys outwitting her father, whether it be by making up her own hilarious sentences or by mimicking his tone.
David develops a greater appreciation for Emma’s fierce personality as the game progresses, as well as a better knowledge of her developing independence and inventiveness. David welcomes the happiness of this special bonding experience even though it can be difficult to keep up with his quick-witted kid.
Emma’s boisterous activities have reinforced the bond between father and daughter, who are both weary from laughing by the end of the day. Knowing that there’s never a dull moment when Emma is around, David is amazed by his feisty toddler’s amazing personality as they get ready for bed.
People laugh and criticize mom after she reveals how she makes 7-year-old clean and teaches him how to cook
How we choose to raise our children and the lessons we decide to ingrain in them from an early age differs from parent to parent.
It’s only natural, of course. Some mothers and fathers take a more disciplined approach, for example, while others prefer to let their kids go through a try and fail cycle so that they can learn right and wrong through their own experiences.
Now, for the most part, how one chooses to style their son or daughter’s upbringing is their business, no one else’s. Yet that doesn’t stop people commenting and criticizing online every time a debate is sparked over some parental decision or another…
I remember when I was younger, doing chores was considered part and parcel of everyday life. I mean for me and my siblings, of course, not only my mother.
Doing dishes, making beds, helping to prepare food before mealtimes… the list goes on and on.
I understand times change, but in my mind getting children to help out with tasks around the house – providing there’s no danger involved – is a great way to instill values and a worth ethic that will come in handy later on.
It seems, though, that not everyone agrees. According to reports, one mother found this out the hard way a few years back after she uploaded pictures of her son and shared her method of giving him chores to do with the internet.
The mom in question, 22-year-old Nikkole Paulun, reportedly explained how she proudly put her 7-year-old son, Lyle, to work around the house, where he would help out with things like cooking and cleaning.
Nothing too dramatic, I’m sure we can all agree, but that didn’t stop online detractors from verbally attacking her and expressing concern over the potential impact on the child’s emotional well-being.
The bulk of the critics targeted the fact that the mother had shared her son’s chores online, not only potentially making other parents question themselves, but also flagging the idea that the child might not want to have his daily activities shared with a large number of strangers online.
One woman went as far as to write in the comments that Nikkole couldn’t just let her child “be your slave. Or to do the chores that you yourself don’t want to do.”
Another wrote: “So I take it you can do everything ur teaching ur son to do or are you just putting pressure on ur child?”
A third added: “Don’t get me wrong… a child should know responsibility. .. but should not be operating a stove that young.“
A fourth wrote: “Lazy mother’s are sweeping the country. It’s good to teach them while they’re young but i notice alot of these single mom’s are just raising their boy’s to be the man that they wish they always had.“
There were many who defended Nikkole in the comments, too, with her post gaining viral status after it garnered over 8,000 comments and 156,000 interactions on Facebook.
Nikkole herself insisted that she enjoys doing housework and that her son Lyle “just helps along the way & earns allowance as well.
What’s more, she added that her then-one-year-old daughter, Ellie, would be following in her elder siblings steps and doing the same thing when she was a little older.
What do you think to Nikkole’s parenting approach and the criticism she got for it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.
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