“It’s For Your Own Good”- trite but oh, so true. By Guest Blogger, Emily

I was honestly flattered when Becca asked me to guest post on Always Something to Talk About. I love these women and enjoy reading the timely and relevant topics they talk write about on this site. As long as they haven’t set their expectations too high for this guest post, I should be all right!

I am definitely not in the running for Mother of the Year. I’m probably not even a candidate for Mother of the Week. I let my kids eat fruit snacks for breakfast and have been known to actually tell them to rot their brains in front of TV so I can get something done. I’ve also admitted to having a favorite child, though just who that favorite child is changes daily—and sometimes hourly. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m sort of a tough-love kind of mom when it comes to my children learning valuable life lessons.

Of course I’d rather they didn’t need to learn some of those life lessons, like the one about just how “hot” hot sauce really is when you decide to say something rather unkind to me while Dad is standing in the same room. But if you don’t learn the consequences of this action now, you may grow up to be a disrespectful teenager, and the world already has plenty of them.

When one of my daughters gets herself into a sticky situation, like gossiping about another friend at school and having it come back to haunt her, I wipe away the tears but I don’t wipe away the opportunity for her to gain a little experience. She and I discuss her options and what she can do to make things right—or at least attempt to make things right. (Girls have this thing about holding grudges.) Facing the problem, dealing with the drama and working through it will hopefully keep her from repeating the experience. As we all know, the drama only gets worse in middle school!

Many parents wish they could keep their children from ever suffering any kind of consequence for their actions, but then how do these children learn right from wrong? Though it may break my heart to see my children in tears over an unwise choice, protecting them from the ensuing fall-out robs them of what could be one of life’s most important lessons.

I love my children. I love them even when they choose to be dishonest or mean or sneaky or do something that elicits a “just WHAT were you thinking?” from both parents. And because I love them, I allow them to learn from their mistakes even when—not “if”—it breaks my heart. And trust me, when the bluest of blue toddler eyes fill with tears while sitting in yet another time out, it breaks my heart. Guess I’m not as tough a mom as I thought I was…

Emily Hill is a wife, mother, entrepreneur and writer…and desperately trying to stay sane! When she’s not driving carpool, cleaning crayon off the walls, scraping dried macaroni off the floor or hiding in her closet, she enjoys entertaining readers with her random ramblings on is this REALLY my life?. She is a contributing editor for Boutique Café, SassyScoops.com and TodaysMama. You can also find her guest posting on sites like Make and Takes, Mom It Forward, I Never Grew Up and petit elefant. Diet Coke and chocolate make it all possible.