I just saw a five year old girl for some stomach virus. Throughout the visit, she was telling me that she plans to be a doctor, a ballerina, a store owner. She's very intelligent and very talkative.

Towards the end of the visit, she wanted me to give her some stickers (it's something we give our kids at the end of each visit). I told her to ask the nurses.

When I walked back to my office to finish up the paperwork, she chased me down, all the way down to my desk. She tapped me on the shoulder and asked for stickers. When I laughed and directed her to the nurses' station, she said "no, tell someone to give me the stickers". She obviously understands the strength of clout. A doctor's demand means a lot more than her own.

I believe she may really end up being all that one day.

? quoting Dred_furst

always the optimist arent we orph

I am not negative, however I am positive about negative situations and it often sounds so.

Consider it 43 years of seeing child raising, both good and badly done.

If however you still doubt me, please feel free to go to your local bookstore and read one of his books.. You will be shocked I assure you. The thing about these books are, you will either like them or hate them, there is no middle ground.

Ultimately, its only the parents job to put in the right ingredients to create a proper human being. Its not their jobs to take any blame for how they turn out as an adult. Each person decides how they will be upon reaching adulthood.

That said, there is a whole plethora of ideals when it comes to the ingredients.

I was once again put into a situation where a parent, one used to the child, had a kid that was very loud and unruly in public.

People like that make me wanna throttle them. We shouldn't have to be the grownups in that situation because what possible benefit to the child would that portend?

Those parents should have their "parenting" cards revoked.

We used to give out lollipops, but that's sending a wrong message to healthy-diet (even though those were sugarless lollipops).

Stickers are much better. Sometimes I horde them myself (like the cool ones for Star War Episode III and the Incredibles).

I'm sure she will get a drug dealer boyfriend, have an abortion and then a kid, be on and off the streets, in and out of rehab, all by the time shes 13

Either that or you'll find her dead in a few days- she choked on the stickers