Children hate when adults communicate!
As your children get older and make more friends, make sure you get to know the parents too. Even the most well-behaved child is going to make a bad choice or two. And if you have creative children like mine, they are very crafty at trying to get away with things. For instance, when my younger son has lost a privilege (such as video games), I make sure I communicate that to our neighbor, because my son could easily go to their house and play video games. We banded together just yesterday when our boys tried to pull off a forbidden snack. I caught them in the act, but the neighbors tried to tell a story to their mother. Needless to say, I was probably not the most popular person yesterday because all the boys ended up in trouble.
Parents banding together is not just for the purpose of monitoring behavior; it can also be helpful for learning more important things. Let's face it; as children become teenagers, parents become almost nonexistent. Teenagers tend to tell their friends everything and their parents nothing. My older son's best friend's mother and I also talk regularly. If one of our children says something concerning to the other parent, we share that information. When my son seems to be "down in the dumps", I will let her know also so she can be watching for anything concerning when he is at her house.
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