Ask any parent you know and they’ll tell you that rules help them survive parenting .
It provides structure to kids who could otherwise thrive in chaos. Some rules make sense — like going to bed at a certain time and no dessert until after dinner . But what about not hanging out with friends on Sunday or forced piano lessons?
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A mom has gone viral for her “weird” parenting rules that people don’t really get.
There are a **lot** of parenting experts on TikTok.
Take Tia Slighthman, for example. She’s a parenting coach and mother of two who goes by the name @parentingcoach on TikTok . This is where she educates her more than 400k followers on how to better parent their children.
One of her biggest — and most controversial — tips is her advice to get children to listen.
For most parents, they command attention from their kids by yelling. But Tia believes that this is actually giving parents the opposite result of what they want.
“Do you want to know why your kids don’t listen until you yell and lose your [expletive]?” She asked in her viral video.
It’s because “you set that boundary,” she said. In other words, parents are training their children not to listen to them the first time,” she said.
“If you ask nicely, give multiple reminders until you finally lose your [expletive], they learn that they won’t need to listen when you ask the first time.”
In order to stop the cycle, parents need to learn how to set concrete, clear, and consistent boundaries.” The 3 C’s!
She explained that this is how kids know in advance what you need them to do.
It all comes down to this: “Shifting your parenting to shift your child’s behavior.”
It’s unclear whether this next mom would listen to these rules. She has her own, after all!
Sharon is a mom of six kids (yes, six) who likes to post about mental health and parenting on her TikTok account, @sharon.a.life.
Recently, one of her videos on the rules she has her kids abide by went viral. “Four weird rules we have for our six kids,” she said in her clip .
“No playing with friends on Sunday. Two years of piano classes minimum.”
She continued: “No homework until you’re in junior high. No singing at the dinner table.”
She then added: “We had the rules when I was a kid and I didn’t understand it until I had kids”.
In a follow-up video, Sharon explained the reasoning behind these unconventional rules.
“So my kids have to do two years of piano in elementary school and the reason why piano and not just whatever they want – that’s a practicality issue.”
She explained that they live on a very tight budget and that they already have a piano and a piano teacher.
After two years of lessons, they can choose to do something else. She and her husband want to ensure that their kids are exposed to the arts early on.
People had a lot of questions and comments about the rules.
“How do you get away with no homework?” one asked. “Suddenly I’m very thankful for my mom,” another wrote with a skull emoji. “I will always find it rly weird to force kids to learn something even if they have no interest in it,” wrote a third.
Some actually found the rules refreshing.
“I love your rules they don’t seem weird to me. I may have to implement a few of them,” said one.
“You’re doing amazing, I think everyone will have different weird rules for their families! You’re doing great!” another wrote.
