Parenting by intimidation

I met briefly with my other writing group.  We used to call ourselves the inner circle but now I refer to us as the poker group.  We don't play poker but ....well ... it's in honor of April's late partner who always thought we were coming over to play poker.

I really was rushing because the furnace guy was coming.  And the furnace guy actually came!  Unfortunately for us, this kind of gas furnace usually only lasts 15 years.  We've been running ours for 20.  He points out that the heat exchanger is cracked, blah blah blah, new furnace.

During my short time, I went over the 'situation' that I used in the first chapter I wrote "We Change Ourselves" which contrasts a parent who just goes ballistic when she finds $10 missing from her wallet and a parent who Thinks Plans Acts, gets support from other members, comes up with a plan to lock up her wallet.

One parent (4 daughters) said she didn't have much defiance.  She said she would sit down with whoever wanted to fight, "OK, you want to have it out, let's do it!"  She recognizes that she was bluffing because none of her daughters would face her down.

Occurs to me this is parenting my intimidation.

Risky and a big downside.

But, whatever works.  This is a certain style of parenting.  Not everybody would like it.  Other things can work.