The best way i can think of to start this thread is to tell you the reason behind it.
As some of you may know and for those that don't i am particularly OCD and am very organized, i like everything neat and tidy and things put back after being used or to tidy up after making a mess just ask my wife who is exactly the opposite,and i also like to have my set routine every morning and night. Don't get me wrong this can be a good thing and a bad thing
How does this relate to raising children you ask, well i believe that my habits affect they way i raise my children in fact i know they affect the way i raise my children, yes teaching kids to pick up after themselves and clean up etc is vital and i believe it also teaches discipline and self control so it is good to teach kids these things not to teach them to be OCD necessarily but being neat and tidy,BUT......this is where my habits come in because i am so OCD i feel that i am depriving my children of their childhood and them having fun by making them pack their toys up when i know they are having fun or stopping them playing in dirt when it is part of their growing up hell i am being a hypocritical parent because i used to play in the dirt and run a muck and my parents loved it but they also taught me to pack up after myself and clean up after myself.
This is really personal to me because i don't want my kids to grow up too quick and i feel by letting my OCD traits govern my parenting of them it will make them grow up to fast and become drones like me i don't want that and it sometimes brings me close to tears when i know all they want to do is have fun and i stop them by telling them not to spread dirt every where or dig holes in the garden, i want them to be able to enjoy life and have fun and i want them to know its ok to have fun but in the same token not to be slobs so to speak. I don't ruin their fun all the time, during the day i let them have as much fun as possible and i want to promote their imagination, and i never force them to stop unless it is dangerous or naughty of course, but in the case of night time i believe it is settle down time and like to have the house clean and tidy.
Now don't get me wrong i don't force them to be tidy but at the end of a day i like the house to be tidy so i ask them to clean up and only ask them to take one book at a time etc. I feel bad and sometimes i feel like a bad parent. That's part of growing up and its part of childhood to be able to get dirty and throw your toys everywhere and i am stopping that with my bad habits.
So my first question is 'Do you believe that our bad habits or good habits run through our parenting to our children and deprive them of something or over stimulate them, and where do we or where should we stop and draw the line on parenting with our personalities and or traits.
My second question is Does our upbringing affect the way we bring our own children up, fro example i grew up with a big imagination and my parents let me have fun but they also taught me discipline and enough is enough sort of thing as well as chivalry etc, but my OCD side has overpowered my imagination and creativity and ability to be free which affects my children.
I hope members like Meier and Cheesevixen and ladysilver or anyone else with children can clarify and also contribute to this thread.
On a side note i do realise that i over use the term OCD and obscure its context as an actual disorder but i am using it in a general context.
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