What is the funnel concept and how is it useful in parenting?
“Picture a funnel with the narrow stem at the bottom and the wide opening at the top. The long stem represents the early stages of parenting, the wider represents growth, maturity, and gradual freedoms. As the child grows up through the stem, freedoms are earned to the extent that responsible behavior is demonstrated. Many pretoddler parents allow behaviors that are neither age-appropriate nor in harmony with the child’s moral and intellectual capabilities. Using our funnel analogy this common mistake would be classified as “parenting outside of the funnel”. Freedoms given that exceed the child’s level of self-control lead to developmental confusion and do not facilitate healthy learning patterns. When freedoms are held back when self-control is evident it leads to developmental frustration for the child, manifested during the ages of 5-10. To avoid reparenting, which is usually less than satisfactory, you should continually evaluate what you allow your child to do given his age, under
