# John Rosemond, dear, you will have to stay in your room.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 1, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763 "2013-03-01T21:13:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/41 "2013-03-05T21:43:40Z")
> [@Paranoid\_Randroid](#):
>
> You let your kids watch _Too Cute_?
Well, it’s that or _2 Broke Girls_, but we’re all bored with anal sex jokes. 😉
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/42 "2013-03-05T23:30:15Z")
IIRC, he doesn’t believe in letting kids watch tv at all.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/43 "2013-03-06T16:37:33Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#):
>
> That said, I did recoil from his notion that a parent is a “benevolent dictator.” That was his exact term.
I know, right? Fucking asshole parents not letting their five year olds stay up until four in the morning and not letting them eat cake and ice cream for every meal. Sons of bitches.
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/44 "2013-03-06T17:02:22Z")
> [@cwthree](#):
>
> Um, what’s the difference between “arguing with Mom and Dad” and “mak[ing] a good case” for what they wanted? It sounds like the only difference is whether or not you ultimately agreed to change your mind.
\*\*WhyNot \*\*got it.
I don’t argue with my kids.
However, if they politely and calmly request an exception to the normal rules, I’ll consider it.
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/45 "2013-03-06T19:34:07Z")
Hey, now we know **Starving Artist** ’s day job!
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/46 "2013-03-06T20:11:50Z")
**Drunky Smurf** , that’s pretty much his attitude, just with stronger language. He takes for granted that everyone who doesn’t follow his advice does let their kids run wild.
I wonder about something else, too. I wonder if, “back in the day” when his great-grandmother was raising kids, if parents were really as _harsh_ and _mean_ as he claims. I’m not convinced that they were. I believe they did set rules and enforce discipline and there wasn’t much hugging or learning and like that. But I’m not sure parents back then set out to make their children’s lives miserable, the way he recommends. Or if they did, it was not a good thing, and when their kids grew up, they did not look back and laugh with gratitude. I’m remembering the midlife-crisis phenomenon of the 1970s. What prompted that, huh?
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### Author:  [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/47 "2013-03-07T12:31:06Z")
I was given one of Rosemond’s books by my parents as a baby gift. They discovered his column and went apeshit (mostly Mom)over it because it reinforced their parenting beliefs and practices.
The tonsil surgery was the real deal, never told me, called me (5yo) in from play one day and whisked me off the hospital, strapped me on a gurney and I waited for hours it seems unable to move or scratch a maddening itch. I took it without complaint. I was the compliant kid, had no voice or power kept waiting for my parents to hand it over. At 18 they wondered what the hell are you going to do with your life? I had no clue, as I was never prepared for that eventuality.
You know what, I don’t hold it against them, or do i ask why? But I’ll be damned if I let them knock my own parenting skills or treat my kids like little slaves.
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### Author:  [@romadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romadea)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-rosemond-dear-you-will-have-to-stay-in-your-room/651763/48 "2013-03-07T15:48:36Z")
I used to work in a surgery recovery room where every Tuesday we did tonsils and adenoids and ear tubes for little kids. _Usually_ the kids who didn’t cry and carry on were the ones whose parents told them a little bit about what was going on, and we always recommended that they do so. It’s not really the pain that makes kids freak out so much as the fear (these are really minor surgeries, and the painkillers work pretty well), but being surprised by the situation makes it so much worse.
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