[Margaret Pilkington]

There were seven children in our family and without rules and discipline there would have been chaos.
We all knew what was expected of us.....and my father kept order like a sergeant major.
We knew that what he did, he did for a reason. He didn't tell every night ' i love you' he demonstrated it daily by making sure that we were safe, cared for and fed(which was no mean feat).
I would not have had it any other way. It prepared me for life very well.
I brought my own daughter up along similar lines.....and she is bringing up her children in the same vein.
To be a good parent, you have to have had good parents.
Parents who demonstrate their moral code, their ethics and their beliefs.
This does not mean that you are forced to choose the same things for yourself, but you cannot differentiate good from bad if you do not know what 'good' is.
Manners are instilled before a child goes to school.....they are maintained by good example after that.