A Real Management Challenge by Elaine M. Gibson Parenting is a management job, not a dictatorship. Getting children to do what parents want them to do is the great struggle of parenting. For some strange reason, children would prefer to do only what they want to do. Trying to force children into battles over obedience is a miserable way to live. Instead of seeing parenting as a dictatorship, see the task of parenting as a management challenge.
Good managers lead their team, and the team wants to follow.
If daily life is a struggle at your house, here are a few suggestions that might help. First, give up the idea that parents are the boss. Instead, think of aparent's job as that of a manager. The real task is to encourage the child's cooperation. Of course a child who refuses to cooperate will experience the consequences of that choice, but there are ways to engage a child's sense of cooperation for the common good.