Parenting Resources

» Louise88 - In the workplace, as in the role of mother to maturing young peo

In the workplace, as in the role of mother to maturing young people, one of the more important and more difficult facets is discerning what not to do. Even more difficult is resisting doing those things, even when you know you shouldn't.

Teenagers and young adults need to come to terms with their own work habits and the expectations of their teachers and employers. Covering up for them and checking up on them isn't always helpful. Sometimes they need to be allowed to fail. I know this as a mother, and I have to remind myself of this as a teacher and an employer. I don't like not-helping, but sometimes I need to.

It may be useful to make a distinction between "mothering skills" as used in the workplace (as the author points out, they may not be helping the person who practises them), and co-dependency or bad mothering in the workplace (which doesn't help anyone, in the long run).

-- posted by Louise88