What kind of parent are you? This mom is a self-proclaimed “mean mom” and even wrote a book about it. How do you balance being “friends” with your child and still enforcing the rules? What are your thoughts on the “mean mom” approach?
Story from NBC:
Stop by any playground and you’ll find all kinds of parenting styles. Then there’s Melanie Sheridan, who calls her husband Phil and their 7-year-old son Tyler the loves of their life. But…
“Are you a mean Mom? Yes, actually, I am. I’m not his friend. He’s got plenty of those at school.“
She’s about to make herself even meaner, sitting down for a 1-on-1 session with the self-proclaimed president of the mean mom’s club.
Maureen Lobue has a masters in education, and year’s of mom experience. Her once little boys are grown men now and now she’s passing on the mean parenting techniques that worked for her.
In her book and her workshops, she teaches 7 rules for being a mean mom. Including:
“Rule 4 is I brought you into this world and I can take you out, and that’s of course from Bill Cosby. I borrowed that from him. And what that’s about is I’m going to be in charge. I am the one in charge.“
Here’s another one:
“Rule no. 6 is I get to be president of the mean moms club. And that’s the one that talks about when you set those boundaries and enforce them, then enforce them every single time.“
Lobue does say that it’s not about being nasty. She doesn’t promote corporal punishment. “Mean mom simply means you set those rules and you enforce them. And that’s a loving thing to do.“
She says she learned it all from her own mom, who passed away a year ago.
“She was no-nonsense, and that’s really what this is about. It’s common sense, it’s no nonsense. It’s respect.“
