This is such an important read.

As someone who was raised by Dobson’s The Strong-Willed Child and held to a behavioural standard of complete, unquestioning compliance, nothing gives me such a sense of peace and safety as when I ask my daughter to do something and she stiffens her back and yells “NO!” at me.

Because if she feels safe saying no to me, she’s going to be able to say no to a predator or abuser…and I don’t think that I would have been, had I ever been in such a situation. I honestly think I would have just done what I’d been trained to do: comply.

I’d so much rather have to deal with my daughter being a defiant, sassy little rebel for a few years while she learns manners, self-control, and cooperation slowly and naturally, than to have to ask myself after the fact why she didn’t resist when someone did the unthinkable.