Singer Brandy on the parenting style she's using on her seven-year-old daughter :
"I love being a mom and I'm raising her in a different way than how I was raised. Some things that my mom did with me, I do with my daughter -- it's just a different dynamic. I would love for people to see how I'm doing it because I think I could be a good example of a young, single mom."
"A lot of mothers feel like they're the mom first, with that authority. But for me, I'm a friend first. I believe that just being there for my daughter as a friend more than 'I'm in charge...' causes her to be more open with me as a person. That's just what our relationship is. Of course, there are times when I have to discipline her -- I'm mom. But there's still that nurturing and love there that we have. I know I'll probably get flack for being a friend first, but it really works. She's really honest with me. I'm just teaching her how to trust herself. I tell her all the time that my life is not your life -- you have your own life."
"At the end of the day we're going to be friends. When she grows up, it'll be about that friendship that we'll have. She'll come to me for any problems that she has. If I have an authoritative wall up, she's going to rebel and not come to me and I don't want that."
No! NO NO NO! Nononononono! Drivel like this drives me batshit crazy... a child will have hundreds of friends throughout their lifetime but only 1 mother... FAIL.
We should definitely revisit this issue in about 10 years and see how Brandy feels then.
Ahhh yesss, the BFF Parenting Technique. Popular? Apparently. Effective? Not so much. Sadly, the child is the one who will grow up and have the honor of wearing the chic alcohol monitor and check into rehab more often than most of us check into hotels. But perhaps it will work for Brandy and her daughter. There is that whole 2012 consciousness altering thing supposed to happen....