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Just Say Yes

By Natalie Friedrich Kidd

A recent study conducted by the Pediatric Institute of Passivity Research has found that undisciplined children are the happiest. In a longitudinal study conducted over a 10-year-period, researchers observed 526 children who ranged in age from 2 to 14 at the commencement. The children were divided into two groups. The parents of the children in the first group were told to allow their offspring to do whatever they wished and to give them everything they wanted. The children in the second group were the control group or the controlled group in this case because parents were asked to discipline their children in the customary fashion. The results were stunning.

The children in the first group were much happier because their parents did not interfere. The children felt free to do whatever they wanted, when they wanted. The toddlers in the group could run with scissors, climb on tables, jump off furniture, throw their food and put their fingers in electric outlets without fear of getting a time-out.

The older children in the group were ecstatically happy, too. They were allowed to play video games all through the night, stay on the phone for hours, skip school, swear at their parents and stay out all night. The children in the undisciplined group were much happier because they were not upset with their parents. Parents' reprimands make children unhappy. Children do not like time-outs and groundings.

"When time-outs and groundings are eliminated, children are happy," states Leonard Lovejoy, M.D., author of the book No Rules - Feel The Love Of Your Child Through Indifference and head of the Pediatric Institute of Passivity Research. In fact, temper tantrums were virtually eliminated when children were allowed to do as they pleased. Further, the use of foul language among teenagers dropped significantly because there was no reason to use it. In addition, parents discovered that they had more free time because they did not have to tend to their children.

However, it was indicated that some of the children in the study were unable to be observed over the full 10-year-period because researchers did not have authorization to visit the children who were now inmates in the local penitentiary. Further research is needed in order to find out the possible ramifications that this style of parenting may have on a child once they reach adulthood.

©2005 Natalie Friedrich Kidd

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Natalie Friedrich Kidd is a freelance writer from Pennsylvania. She is married and the mother of two undisciplined toddlers.