I have never heard a mom publicly announce, "I want my daughter to be perfect," and I have never heard a dad audibly declare, "I want to force my authority on my son." And, I've never heard parents say, "We want to be judgmental parents." For I've heard hundreds of daughters say, "My mom wants me to be perfect." And I've heard an equal number of sons say, "My dad rules our home with an iron fist." And I've heard thousands of kids say, "My parents are the most judgmental people I know." Somewhere between our intent and our execution, those can be the very desires we communicate to our kids.Though we may say we don't demand perfection, don't rule with an iron fist, and that we won't judge our kids, our actions might just be saying otherwise. If we run up against consistent patterns of disregard and disobedience from our teens, perhaps it's time to ask ourselves a tough question: Am I doing something that pushes my kids further away from me?
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