Tuesday, July 7, 2015

The Three Cs for Raising Good Children


You may be thinking that I shouldn't be giving advice on raising/rearing children.  You may be correct, as I have No Kids!

True, but I work with a lot of people who not only have kids of their own, but also work with children all day long -- the great caseworkers of Dallas County Child Protective Services!  If you are not lucky enough to know a CPS caseworker, let me tell you that you are missing out.

As with all large offices -- Dallas County has about 600 employees -- there are caseworkers who are cute, fashionable, silly, gorgeous, smart, handsome, serious, hilarious -- just every kind of person you might imagine.

But all of them are dedicated to helping kids.  And when their day goes awry, it can be difficult, extremely difficult work.

Recently one of the women who does this work day in and day out came into the office here at Community Partners of Dallas and we were talking about one of her cases.  A mom was staying in a motel with her 5 BOYS -- stair-stepped up to about age 8 -- and they had just been evicted from the motel because the mom had let the children draw on the furniture and walls with markers.

Mom told Candace (the caseworker) that she didn't know what to do with the 5 little hellions. Candace gave her (and gives all of her clients) this lecture:

You've got to remember the 3 Cs...  You have to Care enough to give your children Consequences with Consistency.

Candace says this is the best way to love your children and make them into good adults.

I agree.

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