Parenting Tips from Anne Frank

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made a list of 24 books I wanted to read this year. "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank was number 1 on that list.

I read it once when I was young, but I've been wanting to re-read it for quite a few years now. I'm so glad I finally made the time!

When I read it the first time, I was a kid and I was reading what another kid wrote. This time I read it as a parent, thus I noticed this child's relationship with her mother.

According to her diary, Anne did not like her mother very much at all. Yet, at the same time, it appears that she put on a facade so her mom wasn't always aware of how deep Anne's resentment toward her was.

As the mother of an almost 2 digit daughter, I tried to analyze how I can do things differently, so as not to have a strained relationship with my own children.

I'm no psychologist, but here are some things I learned:

Do not trick then laugh at your child

Pretty common sense, right?

While in hiding, Anne relates an incident that had happened over a year prior. Her mom and sister took her to the dentist and they encouraged Anne to take her bike. After they left the dentist, the mom said she and her sister were going shopping downtown and Anne couldn't come because she brought her bike.

Anne got angry and when she did, her mom and sister laughed at her. In her diary, Anne says she could never forgive her mother for that incident.


Don't be your child's friend

Anne stated quite often that she wanted a mother who was like a mother. She couldn't quite spell out what that meant, but she knew she didn't have it.

At one point she says that her mom tries to treat her like a friend, but that isn't what she wanted.

She didn't even feel like her mother was worthy of the title mom, so she called her momsy. :(

Not sure how I could prevent this, because Anne wasn't quite sure how things could be different either.

No nitpicking

From what I can gather, Anne was quite the chatterbox. Always talking and apparently always getting scolded for everything she did.

There were several entries that Anne complained of how much she was reprimanded. She felt like she couldn't do anything without being told that she was being too loud or too clumsy or what have you.

I know I'm guilty of this one, but its something I'm trying to work on. Praise the Lord for His grace!

If you've read Anne Frank's diary and have learned a thing or two, I'd love to hear about it.