Oh, right - I forgot about the vast amount of research involved in fortune-telling. And that they sell it as “forming an opinion” rather than some mystical extra-sensory ability. In any case, I’ll stop the hijack about your scam artistry - you’re doing perfectly well hanging yourself with all the rope given to you on the topic of the OP.
Okay, since my last tag is at the bottom of the previous page, and I managed to fuck up the spelling twice, I’m going to reiterate my point to ZPG Zealot here with the proper spelling:
Loving your child unconditionally is not a problem UNLESS you believe that you cannot love your child and discipline your child at the same time.
If you love them unconditionally you can’t discipline them. Discipline implies you have to be able to disapprove of what they are doing. You have to be able to see the child as being at fault. That’s not unconditional love.
How hard is it to understand that you can love sombody, and yet disapprove of what they are doing?
Clearly. I could use some advice, when you have your kid on a harness in the grocery store, do you teach him how to heel and stay, or just yank the leash when he starts sniffing people’s crotches?
Yanking the leash hard enough to temporarily cut off breathing works wonders at training little boys though they may develop an auto asphyxiation fetish in later life. Couldn’t resist.
Of course you can. I love my sons unconditionally. Part of that love is instructing them on proper behavior, so that they can succeed in this world we live in. There is zero conflict between discipline and love.
In fact, love makes discipline MORE effective. It ensures that the discipline is done for the right reasons, with appropriate amounts of restraint as well.
Yeesh, you need to get your shit together ZPG. Remember, when trolling, consistency is key!
Meyer6, be fair, there is a difference between love and unconditional love. If a child doesn’t know that you’re willing to stop loving them over their various misbehaviors, how can your discipline work?
Ah, right. You just have to be willing to withdraw your love whenever the child does something unforgivable, like ask for a treat in a grocery store.
“I will always love you. I just don’t like you very much at the moment.” <----one of Mom’s favorite sayings. 
WTF does a condition far too belief mean?
Cheesesteak, for someone who admits he cannot control his child for a short shopping trip, you seem to have a lot of attitude toward other people’s advice.
Maybe their advice is bad, but we know one thing for sure: you are a failure as a parent. You have admitted that you cannot control your child for even a short time in public and that shopping is highly stressful.
Maybe you don’t think spanking will work, but you know that what you are doing does not work. I hope the child’s mother is not a complete failure like you, or this kid will probably end a complete waste.
You know that there are parents with retarded four year olds that can regularly take their children shopping without incident. What does that say about you? You cannot teach your child to behave, but the parents of retarded kids can teach theirs.
I hope you get your head out of your ass and start light spanking with emotional blackmail as a backup.
There is a difference between witholding love and witholding privileges.
Turning off the TV, the computer, no candy, etc. is not saying that you don’t love them. They might interpret it that way (and say it), but that is attacking their privileges because of their actions. They learn that positive actions result in payouts, and negatives actions result in the loss of things that they want. This is why discipline is so hard to apply if you give you children nothing - you have nothing to take away.
Teaching kids that you can take away love, however, is a terrible thing to do. Love is not a switch that is clicked on and off depending on how the kid is acting at Wal Mart.
Suppose to be far too many believe
And you need to learn how to read. There is a difference between love and unconditional love. One may be a nice emotion to experience. The other is an unhealthy and dangerous pre-occupation.
When that advice comes from resident child hater curlcoat or brain dead newbie Naive Evian, I’m happy to throw some attitude around.
Other folks like FoieGrasIsEvil and WhyNot* are reasonable people offering reasonable commentary and advice, they get my respect.
*WhyNot, I should have thanked you for your post, I’ll keep it in mind the next time I go free wheeling with the kiddo.
**Algher, I was kind of joking about the “stop loving them” thing, poking fun at our other resident child hater ZPG Zealot.
I think the issue is the definition of “unconditional love”. Apparently, ZPG thinks unconditional means you approve of anything the one you love does.
Not only can you not control your child, you don’t understand the difference between him and a dog? Boy, I really have touched a nerve here, haven’t I? Does it bother you that so many people have told you that you fail as a parent, but you only feel safe in lashing out at me?
Right, nice save. Or nice attempt at a save, at least.
Remember when you insisted that adoptive parents are forcing their kids to call them mom and dad? And you said that adoptive parents make their love conditional upon being called mom and dad? So…according to you, the love of an adoptive parent is by its very nature conditional. And conditional love is the only way to raise good children. So adoptive parents must therefore be better than those unconditionally loving biological parents, and adopted kids must therefore be the best kids out there, right?
Hmmm, better rethink some part of that strategy. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find a way to wriggle out of that that is satisfactory (to you, at least).
Insult me all you want, it won’t make you a decent parent. Have fun when your kid ends blowing strangers in the bus station bathroom for crack money because if you keep up your horrible parenting, it just might end up there.