DigitalVision/Getty Images
Should I let my child drink root beer? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
Answer by Dan Holliday on Quora:
Should I let my child drink root beer? Sure. Why not. It’s just a beverage (carbonated sugar water).
Frankly, I’m more surprised that you have a child than you fretting about allowing the child to drink root beer. Here in the States, we have a funny diaper commercial. It shows the mother worrying about all sorts of details about her kid. She interviews like ten dozen babysitters. She selects organic, fair trade this-or-that. She is super idealistic. Then they show her with the second kid, and she’s all, “Oh who cares. Kids are resilient.”
Parenting, so I’m told, shatters idealism in rearing children because fairly quickly, parents realize that they’re not programming robots. They’re parenting human beings. Those children aren’t receptacles for rivers of idealism, but who almost always come at the world with their views and desires. This has to be true of your kid.
I’m going to tell you a secret. No matter what you do to your kid, that youngin’ is gonna have sex before s/he graduates school. Your kid is going drink alcohol. It’s highly likely that your kid will try drugs. It’s almost a certainty that your kid will lie to you with impunity and probably steal a few things in her/his lifetime. Get over it. This doesn’t mean you don’t correct, admonish and otherwise engage your kid to turn him/her into a proper human being. But fretting over the minutia is going to be a huge waste of time.
When I was a manager, there was a saying, “Major in the majors.” Basically this, “Find the stuff that matters and make that your focus. It doesn’t mean that you ignore the little things, but that you deal with the stuff that is crucial. If you fight every little battle, you’ll have no credibility or energy left when the big stuff happens.”
Go ahead. Freak out about root beer. Have at it. Just remember, you teach people how to respect you. If you’re going to fret about nonsense like root beer, I promise you, you’ll have nothing left for the really important stuff like when your son comes home stoned, or your daughter tells you she wants to go on the pill.
This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: