“FAFO Parenting”

I was an FAFO parent before it was cool.
My children rarely tested it.
If the line was pushed, it was usually The Prodigal. My daughters were intelligent enough to learn by their brother’s example. The four of them have grown into contributing members of society.

I was the fun, silly, happy go lucky Dad. Although I had rules;
They couldn’t talk back or get snarky with me.
When ‘serious Dad’ said ‘No’, don’t ask again.
When I said ‘don’t do it’, you proceeded at your own peril, because there would swift immediate consequences.

An incident comes to mind with The Prodigal. He was about 6 or 7. He had a favorite toy, a plastic samurai sword and scabbard.
He slept with it, he couldn’t go anywhere without it. He was a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’.
At the time we had adopted a stray cat, or basically she adopted us. We found her with a litter of kittens in a basement window well. Once we gave away or got rid of that litter, she immediately got knocked up again. The...