I found this Telegraph story through Esmon, and wanted to share. The writer confesses not many of his friends take his child care advice too seriously, but he does put across a few interesting points.

For one, he has what he calls the “Manifesto of the Idle Parent,” and it reads like this:

• We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
• We pledge to leave our children alone
• That should mean that they leave us alone, too
• We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
• We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
• We drink alcohol without guilt
• We reject the inner Puritan
• We fill the house with music and laughter
• We don’t waste money on family days out and holidays
• We lie in bed for as long as possible
• We try not to interfere
• We push them into the garden and shut the door so that we can clean the house
• We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
• Time is more important than money
• Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
• Down with school
• We fill the house with music and merriment

I disagree with the very first sentence of the manifesto. I’ve never met a parent who feels parenting is not hard work, and if you know anyone else who believes otherwise, please let me know.

Having said that, he’s very right on a few counts. We all agree over-regulating a child’s life is no good, like those etiquette classes for kids we talked about a few days back.

And he’s right about consumerism too.

And every house should be filled with music and merriment.

But I am not sure if I’d let my child run completely wild, either.

I think balance is important in everything. I think this is one of those cases where you take a few points from his manifesto, and apply them to your own life as you see fit.

What do you think? Could you be an idle parent?