Building a healthy parent-child relationship, according to one father and son duo
Aug 23, 2024, 7:00 AM | Updated: 7:23 am
Two children playing croquet with their parents, circa 1975. (Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
(Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — We often say that families can be messy, especially the parenting part.
There is no such thing as a perfect parent, just as there is no such thing as a perfect child. Then the question is… What characterizes a healthy parent-child relationship? Inside Sources spoke to a father and son duo to find out.
Scott Miller is a bestselling author and host of a weekly leadership podcast, “On Leadership with Scott Miller.”
He and his 14-year-old son, Thatcher, co-authored a book titled, “Parenting Mess to Launch Success,” where they talk about the many challenges that people face when it comes to parenting.
In the book, they share several stories from their past that can teach an important lesson about the parent-child relationship.
One noteworthy chapter that Thatcher brought up is chapter 30, where they talk about the importance of friendship between the parent and the child.
“Either parents swing one way or swing the other way, where there are really good friends with their kids or they’re super strict with their kids. I think it sort of decides what the kid’s future is. It decides how the kid’s going to treat their parents in the future and treat other kids,” Thatcher said.
For Scott, chapter 15, titled “Wilbur’s greatest gift,” was very memorable. Wilbur was the family dog for 15 years who had to be put down at the end of his life. It was an emotional experience for the entire family, even for his second son, who doesn’t express his emotions on a regular basis.
Scott said that was one of his greatest days because he noticed that his second son finally felt comfortable.
“Wilbur’s greatest gift was validating how important it is that parents encouraged and model for their children that emotional regulation is an important concept for parents, for leaders, for children,” he said.
