Today I Should Not Be

Anyone Who Has Ever Been A Mother Or Father And Is At All Honest Knows From Experience How Difficult It Can Be For Parents To Accept Certain Aspects Of Their Children. It Is Especially Painful To Have To Admit This If We Really Love Our Child And Want To Respect His Or Her Individuality Yet Are Unable To Do So.

The Attempt To Be An Ideal Parent, That Is, To Behave Correctly Toward The Child, To Raise Her Correctly, Not To Give To Little Ortoo Much, Is In Essence An Attempt To Be The Ideal Child--well Behaved And Dutiful--of One's Own Parents. But As A Result Of These Efforts The Needs Of The Child Go Unnoticed. I Cannot Listen To My Child With Empathy If I Am Inwardly Preoccupied With Being A Good Mother; I Cannot Be Open To What She Is Telling Me.

Today I Should Not Be Identified With Any Kind Of Regressive Therapy.

It Is Unlikely That Someone Could Proclaim "truths" That Are Counter To Physical Laws For Very Long (for Example, That It Is Healthy For Children To Run Around In Bathing Suits In Winter And In Fur Coats In Summer) Without Appearing Ridiculous. But It Is Perfectly Normal To Speak Of The Necessity Of Striking And Humiliating Children And Robbing Them Of Their Autonomy, At The Same Time Using Such High-sounding Words As Chastising, Upbringing, And Guiding Onto The Right Path.

Where There Had Been Only Fearful Emptiness Or Equally Frightening Grandiose Fan­tasies, An Unexpected Wealth Of Vitality Is Now Discovered. This Is Not A Homecoming, Since This Home Has Never Before Existed. It Is The Creation Of Home.