Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

Bloggers need to use their noodles…um, thinkers.

The biggest problem with raising kids to become independent thinkers is …

Parents want us kids to become independent.

They want us to think for ourselves, to be independent thinkers.

Or do they?

Click to read => How to raise a well-respected child

The biggest problem with raising kids to become independent thinkers is that they start thinking independently. And a lot of time that means they don’t agree with their mommies and daddies. At least for a while.

Too often parents who want their children to become independent thinkers really want their children to think for themselves but ALWAYS come to the conclusion that what mommy and daddy ALWAYS say is right.

And that’s not the case.

Sometimes mommies and daddies don’t know things that their kids know.

Yeah, believe it or not we kids sometimes know things that our mommies and daddies don’t know.

Daddy might want me to do one thing but my kindergarten teacher might require me to do something else.

It’ s not a right or wrong issue. It’s something different.

And I might want to do what my kindergarten teachers want me to do. Or what my friends want me to do.

Mommy and daddy might want me to like carrots, (Yuck!) but I might like broccoli better.

If you want me to think for myself, then I need to have some space to do that.

Are you sure you want me to be an independent thinker? Are you really sure?

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.