Taking the Tough Out of Tough Love: How Expanding and Strengthening our Understanding of “Love” Can Free Our Hearts from Conflict and Confusion

Tomorrow I plan to write a bit on how we can transform the pain of being firmly there for our children into the joy of sparing them the hollow indulgence and careless abandonment of “squishy love.”

I plan to write about changing our thinking of “following through on our threats” to being true to our word, about changing “giving them a second chance” to being worthy of their trust, about changing “not letting them get away with it” to being a presence for their security, someone they can count on, an honorable and steadfast parent. I plan to write about following through on limits we have set and upholding the boundaries while we are still calm and cheerful, before we feel annoyed or angry.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5839056