What Kind Of Parent Are You?

1. You're grocery shopping and your child throws a tantrum because he wants a candy bar. What do you do?

Threaten him and say, "Either you shut up, or I'll make you shut up."

Ignore him and continue walking around in the store.

Give him the candy bar.

Say, "You can't have candy right now. We will go home and after you eat your dinner, you can have a treat."

2. You made dinner for your daughter. She does not want to eat the vegetables. What do you do?

Shove the vegetables in your daughter's mouth.

Explain to your daughter that vegetables are healthy for her. If she wants to grow strong like Popeye, she needs to eat the vegetables. Try to make it fun and act like the vegetables on the fork are an airplane.

You let her leave the table but do not offer any dessert.

You let her leave the table without finishing her vegetables, and give her dessert.

3. Two of your children are fighting with each other. What do you do?

Explain why fighting is wrong. Ask them why they were fighting and try to help them find a solution. Help them understand how each other feels and teach them how to apologize.

Take them each separately and slap them.

Tell them to stop.

Let them fight it out.

4. Your son comes home with an F on his report card. What do you do?

Ask him why he got the F. Make a plan with him to talk to his teachers and study with him each night. Call the teacher every other week to check up on his progress.

Ground him until the next report card and take away his toys.

Don't look at it too much. He'll probably improve.

Say, "It's ok, at least you tried!"

5. You're on an important phone call, and your daughter comes up to ask you a question. She is nagging you. What do you do?

Pause your conversation, tell your daughter that you're on the phone, and ask her to draw you a picture until you're finished.

Say, "I'm on the phone, STOP!"

Ignore her.

Try to have both conversations at the same time - ask your daughter what is wrong, but stay on the phone.

6. Your son runs up to you and slaps you. What do you do?

Slap him back and ground him.

Ignore him.

Explain to him, "You shouldn't hit me because I'm your parent and you need to respect me. Think about how it feels when you get hit - does it feel good? No, it doesn't. Why do you want to hurt me?"

Take it as a joke and tell him to stop, but don't make him stop.

7. You get a phone call from Walgreens. They tell you that your daughter stole a lipstick. What do you do?

Tell the police to take her to jail and leave her there.

Thank the police, take her home and don't say anything to her.

Tell the police to make her walk home. Don't say anything to her when she gets home.

Take your daughter home, ask her why she did it, talk to her about why stealing is wrong, and make her volunteer.

8. Your son, who is in high school, asks if he can stay out until 3am. What do you say?

Hell, no! When I was your age, I had to be up for work at 3 in the morning, and you want to stay out partying? How dare you even ask? Go clean the bathroom!

Sure, you can stay out until 5. Love you!

How about you stay out until 1, and please call me every hour. I'll pick you up when you're ready to come home.

I don't care, sure.

9. Your daughter comes home from pre-school saying the F word. What do you say?

Aw, that's so hilarious! How cute!

Explain to her what the word means, how it's not something that good people say, and ask her not to say it anymore.

Slap her and wash her mouth out with soap.

Ignore her.