The American writer Susan Sontag (her diaries were recently published in Russian) wrote these rules for herself when her son David was 6 years old. Years later, David himself, who also became a famous writer, prepared them for publication along with other notes from his mother. Do you agree with Susan?
1. Be consistent.
2. Don’t talk about him to others (eg don’t say funny things) in his presence. (Don’t embarrass him.)
3. Don’t praise him for things you wouldn’t unconditionally approve of.
4. Do not rebuke him severely if he has committed an offense by doing what he was allowed to do.
5. Routine for every day: food, homework, bath, brushing teeth, bedroom, fairy tale, sleep.
Read more:
- Recipe for children’s happiness
6. Don’t let him claim all your time when you’re with someone.
7. Always speak well of his dad (no sneers, no sighs, no grimace).
8. Don’t disappoint him with childhood fantasies.
9. Explain to him that there is a world of adults that does not concern him.
10. Do not assume that he will not like the same thing that you do not like (bath, washing your hair).
Susan Sontag (1933–2004) – one of the iconic figures of the culture of the twentieth century. Author of novels, screenplays and philosophical essays. There are no forbidden topics for Sontag: already in the 60s she analyzed pornography as one of the most important areas of culture and for the first time described what would later be called kitsch – works about which one can say: “It’s good, because it’s terrible” – as one from the foundations of modern taste. In the borderline, limiting areas of personal and cultural experience, she is looking for an answer to the question of the essence of modern man and humanity.