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[quote=Anonymous]I've never understood the attitude that strong-willed children are bad. My husband's family uses the term "willful". People seem to use it for really minor stuff like a kid being resistant to brushing their teeth or something. I'm not talking about when a kid is kicking or biting or yelling or doing something that is never okay in a person of any age. I just mean when a kid is reluctant to do something that it seems pretty understandable they would be reluctant to do.

Like if my niece ever says no to anything or is resistant in any way to, say, putting on her pajamas or eating a meal, everyone will say "Oh, she is so willful." But it seems to me she just doesn't want to stop what she's doing to do whatever she's being asked to do, or she doesn't like the food she's being served. It seems normal to me, even if it makes things hard for the parents. I mean, I'm an adult and I don't just automatically do whatever someone tells me to do. I might not just say no or walk away the way a toddler would, but that's because I'm old enough to understand there are better ways of communicating things. And the only reason I know that is because adults taught me that stuff when I was a kid, instead of just complaining I was "strong-willed."

It seems like usually when people call a child willful it's just because they just want a kid to silently agree to do whatever they ask. In other words, I feel like it's what adults say when they don't feel like parenting.[/quote]

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