‘I raise my children strictly and do not believe in the delicate children’s soul’

“I firmly believe in the upbringing I received from my Surinamese grandmother. With a tight hand and grandma’s will is law. If that’s called authoritarian parenting, so be it. There is nothing wrong with that, you get neatly polite children. For example, our children speak with two words, say “you” to us and all other adults, and hold their beaks when grown-ups talk. They also clean their own room, eat with a knife and fork from the age of three and stay at the table until everyone is ready.

‘I stick to words’

The only thing I don’t do is give corporal punishment. I have very bad memories of the blows with my grandmother’s ruler, I stick to words. But I do not believe in the delicate soul of the child and I am also not of the patience of the angels. I once came to pick up Riley from a friend and then he reacted very badly. I asked three times if he wanted to put on his shoes and warned that otherwise I would leave without him. He did not come. I don’t let a kid fool me, so I drove home alone. He had to walk home for ten minutes. Since then he always comes immediately when I ask for it.

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‘He is sometimes stricter than me’

No, I don’t believe that my method is typically Surinamese. My husband is a real cheese head, but is completely behind it. In fact, I think he is even stricter than me at times. He often says, “Hey, I didn’t go to class with you!” if one of the kids is too popular. Still, I don’t believe the children suffer much from a rigorous approach. They feel good about themselves, do well at school and they are invited to parties. Afterwards we are always told that our children have helped so much with cleaning up. ”

This story has previously appeared in Kek Mama.

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