When you enter into the role of parent, you are taking on one of the greatest challenges of your life. You are gaining the responsibility of another person. At one point or another you will question why someone hasn't ever written a rule book to guide you through raising another person. Why hasn't anyone ever written a rule book that tells you exactly what your response should be to certain situations? Why didn't anyone ever tell you that the time would come when your child will do something nasty with a poopy diaper? Why are there not rules for exactly what you should do when your child tells you that they hate you? These are just some of the questions that parents will probably ask at one time or another; the answers to these questions will change depending on who you ask.
Sure, a 12 step program to raising children would be nice. There would atleast be basic guidelines for what to do in certain situations, or maybe an insight into what you can expect. Yeah, it would be nice if someone could give you a heads up that your child might attempt certain things and your response should be along these guidelines. But who are we kidding, we are all different, therefore writing that sort of program woudl be invalid.
We are all different. We have different responses to different situations. What one parent considers unacceptable behavior from a child, another parent explains it as normal. This is how our children learn. Children learn that different people have different responses to certain things. Children learn that what is acceptable in one situation is unacceptable in another. Where would a 12 step program get those parents and the children that are learning from the responses? NOWHERE!
Our world is diverse. The diversity encompasses different cultures, traditions, rituals, and especially personalities. There are those children that are spontaneous, boisterous, and adventurous. Then there are those children that are quiet, reserved, and stick within the limits of what they know to be safe. You cannot apply the same responses, routines, and guidelines to those two children because their interpretation would be different, their responses would be different, and the situations would be different. The same applies to parents with different ideas about what is right and what is wrong. The interpretation of the guidelines and 12 step program would be different, as well as their response to the program.
In all retrospect, not having guidelines to raise children by provides us with the world as we know it. This allows for the joys and the disappointments of raising children. This allows for parents to continue to grow as they learn what works and what doesn't when it comes to raising their children. We, as parents, learn with our children. Our children teach us new and enlightening stuff everyday, just as we do to them. Who would want to miss out on that by raising their children according to a 12 step program? Where is the fun in that? I guess that it gives parents the opportunity to break the rules when they disagree with them.