Parenting expert talks about Facebook & discipline

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - John Rosemond, author, psychologist and parenting expert, talked recently to parents in Onslow County. Rosemond has written several books and has also appeared on national television shows including NBCs Today Show.

He spoke with WECT's Kim Ratcliff about social media and parenting and some of the biggest mistakes parents make in regards to disciplining their children.

Rosemond believes parents should watch everything their children do while on Facebook and searching the internet.

"To me letting a child use the internet unsupervised is akin to letting a child walk thru the red light district in Amsterdam without a guardian," explained Rosemond.  "It's a very, very dangerous thing."

Rosemond is also against teachers "friending" students on Facebook.

"This is a totally inappropriate thing anyway for teachers to be entering into a relationship with their student on the Internet or anywhere else," said Rosemond.  "This is part of the insanity of the current school system which has gone to a relationship model of teaching. You can't be an effective teacher if you are in a relationship with somebody, you have to be removed somewhat aloof but today's teachers are concerned about being liked because they get evaluated by their students."

Rosemond believes parents today are not using leadership skills and therefore children aren't responding when they are being disciplined.

"When you are in that confident possession of your authority you're going to present yourself to your child in a way that causes your child to: A pay attention to you and B: it is going to cause your child to obey and you won't have to yell, you won't have to scream, you won't have to engage in drama you won't have to use behavior modification it will be a very natural process which it should be," said Rosemond.

Hear more from Rosemond tonight ONLY on WECT News at 11.  He will go into more depth about each topic.

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