NaNoWriMo 16 – Parenting

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

• a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
• due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others. (Google)
• admiration felt or shown for someone or something that you believe has good ideas or qualities
• politeness, honour, and care shown towards someone or something that is considered important
• a feeling that something is right or important and you should not attempt to change it or harm it
• the feeling you show when you accept that different customs or cultures are different from your own and behave towards them in a way that would not cause offence (Cambridge Dictionary)

Then there was this one…which is too often what R-E-S-P-E-C-T really means…

Behavior intended to please your parents (Vocabulary.com)

Though it is not exclusive to parents. Grandparents…teachers…and ultimately society in general.

It is though the one definition that those with Pathological Demand Avoidance do NOT get.

Why are some people more important…more worthy than others?

I admit…I might have a tad of PDA myself in this way. It is certainly one of things that I most love about PanKwake.

I remember one time…after one of those nasty public meltdowns that we talked about the other day in fact…we were walking home from the park because she was too overwrought/over-stimulated to manage the bus. We passed a homeless man on the street. PanKwake insisted that we give him money.

But it did not stop there. Plenty of people do that…though not enough. No, PanKwake got out of her buggy and sat there talking to the man for several minutes. She did that often.

Even in the stark aftermath of that violent meltdown, I recognized the positives of PDA. For PanKwake, that homeless man was just as special…just as worthy…just as deserving of respect as the Queen of England. She makes no distinction between them.

Neither does she see why age entitles others to more respect than they afford her.

There is a great deal to be said for and about respect being both earned and a two-way street.

More tomorrow…