I just finished reading "Mama Rock's rules: ten lessons for raising a houseful of successful children" by Rose Rock, mother of comedian Chris Rock. She raised 10 kids and 17 foster kids. I was curious to see what she specifically said about large families.

As it turns out, not much. Most of her book is about child rearing in general. She did have a section that talked about being your brother's keeper: "The more children you have, the more you need them to watch out for each other."

One of her rules was "Wipe you mouth out before you come into the house." Considering her son's act, I guess foul language outside of the house is okay.

The rule in our house is "no cursing until you are 18." Which has lead to some colorful curses as, "You turtle!" Or "Jean is acting like a meatball." By the time they are allowed to curse, they have pretty much forgotten about it, have a large enough vocabulary they don't have to resort of four letter words, or they are cursing up a blue streak at college, and we don't have to hear them.

Rose Rock's rule #9 is "Good memories are the best things you can give your children (besides good manners). I agree with this one whole heartedly, and I hope the kids look back on their childhood fondly. My hub and I both had childhoods that were lacking for love, and fairly awful.

Anyone else have any thoughts on what your owns rules for rasing children would include?

GG

My two favorite rules:

1. Don't start any habit you don't want to have to break!

2. A small and consistent consequence is more effective than an inconsistent drastic one.

Laura
Mom to Eight