As a parent, your job is to keep your composure, and in between
volleys of verbal abuse, attempt to instil the values that will enable
your offspring to integrate smoothly into the wider world. Doting mother
Heidi Johnson clashed with her teenage son Aaron after he was
caught lying about doing his homework and attempting to gain
independence in completely the wrong manner. Instead of losing her
temper, she came up with a clever plan to teach her son an important
lesson.
Heidi Johnson’s 13-year-old son Aaron was fairly
popular on YouTube. However, when his videos started to make some money,
the newfound fame apparently went to his head. When confronted about
his homework, Aaron protested that he now had a job, and that he was
eventually going to do it. This disagreement might have easily
escalated, but Heidi used the incident to give Aaron a dose of reality
when it comes to independence, and hopefully teach him a thing or two
about gratitude along the way. Heidi wrote her son a letter that helped
Aaron to understand his role in the family, and left the note under his
door.
Although
Aaron had clearly overstepped his boundaries, initially, Heidi’s gambit
didn’t go well. The 13-year-old stormed out of the apartment, but
rather than try to reason with her son or prevent him from leaving,
Heidi wisely realised that this would allow time for Aaron to thoroughly
consider the situation: “When he could be respectful, and I was more
calm, we would discuss it further.”
She then shared posted the
letter on Facebook. Heidi only intended to share it with her friends,
but accidentally set the privacy of the picture to public. As a
result, her post was shared over 167,000 times, with many mothers taking
the time to commend Heidi on her exemplary parenting.
Innovative
methods of parenting such as the letter written by Heidi always have
the potential to backfire. However, Aaron soon returned home, giving his
mother back the things she had bought, and pledged to earn them back
using his own cash. He also apologised for his outburst, and quizzed his
mum on how he could improve the situation. So that both Heidi and Aaron
knew exactly where they stood, Heidi drafted a contract that would
ensure clear communication about the rules of the home, and outlined how
Aaron would balance his school work with his YouTube duties.
As
any parent will probably be at great pains to stress, there’s no set
manual for raising a child. It’s a thankless, near impossible task, and
although both parent and offspring will make mistakes from time to time,
it’s important that any disagreements don’t unduly upset the family
balance.
Aaron was probably quite excited to be earning money for
the first time in his life, and it would have been easy to accidentally
deflate his confidence while setting him straight on the correct family
values. With her clever letter and her contract, Heidi helped keep her
son’s feet on the ground, and it looks like Aaron is well on the way to
becoming a successful and well-adjusted adult.
