Can you be your children's best friend?

As a group, we have thoroughly discussed this, and if you don't read anything else read this: THE ANSWER IS ABSOLUTELY NOT! The first thing you have to realize, is that when you think of a best friend, we didn't say good friend, a best friend is someone you can share everything with. You wouldn't tell your child about mature marital issues, would you? Or even if your not married, would you discuss relationship problems with your child? Some would read this and say yes I would, but the questions is how far would you go? If you would still say yes, there are serious parental issues that you should seek help for. A best friend is someone you can share all these things with and not have to worry about scaring them for life. Next, when you try and act like your child's best friend, you lose your authority with them. They see you as an equal, so when a situation arises that you have to be stern or discipline them for, they see their best friend talking to them and not their parent. Translation, they feel like it's something they can just ignore and not take serious. Your children should look at you as an example, a role model for their life, they also should view you as the hero of their life. When you are their best friend or try to act like one, all of that gets knocked down one peg and you become another one of their buddies. If you are already in this situation, start repairing and reversing that relationship today, if you need help or have questions, feel free to email us. You want to have such a great relationship with your child, that they feel comfortable enough to tell you anything and everything, but you don't want it to cross the line to a place where you lose any healthy fear and respect they have for you!  This post brought to you by Kimanzi, William, Chaka, David

Why Were Here

We are 4 fathers who on a daily basis discuss, help out, talk through and try to give each other helpful advice on raising our army of kids. Kimanzi is a married 30 year old father of an 11 year old boy, a 9 year old boy, and a 8 year old girl. William is a 32 year old recently divorced father of an 10 year old girl, and a 8 year old boy. David is a 27 year old single father of a 5 year old girl. Chaka is a married 38 year old father of an 9 year old girl, a 4 year old girl, and a 3 year old boy. Maybe it's all in our heads and we have no clue what were talking about, but we will still strive to give any helpful tips and wisdom we've picked up along the way! Our goal for this blog is also to get as many parents involved with the goal of all of us helping each other out in any way we can. Spread the word to every parent you know and tell them to join us! Parenting is under attack everywhere you look, it's up to strong parents to take back our kids!