Parenting with Machiavelli

How to Take Back a Kingdom from the Tyranny of Toddlers

Being a parent is hard for anyone who has a toddler. They cry as a way to get what they want, they walk to get to where they shouldn't be, and they talk so much ones ears could fall off. Yes you love them and you want to bring them up in the best way you can. Bringing up a child is based on how parents treat them every day. The biggest choice in the matter is where parents get their parenting advice from. Parents get parenting advise from all walks of life from the friends they have to the people they see at the mall. I believe that Machiavelli can be and has been one of the tools used to raise a toddler.

                Machiavelli had many way of keeping control of ones kingdom and as a parent it is crucial to not let little tyrants, I mean toddlers, take control of the kingdoms parents work so hard for. The two main teachings that Machiavelli can offer the parenting world, would easily be, the steps to taking back control of one’s kingdom and kindness in moderation. I have grown up with a parent that did both of these to me from the moment he joined my life until today. Now every toddler hits a rambunctious stage in their life, where they feel that they have a level of control over themselves, NOT ME, mostly due to Prince.

                Back in the 1990’s I was a little toddler and living with my mother who most would say is very easy going. I once broke a plate because I said “I did not like it”, I then proceeded to break things all the time because there was not much of a punishment. I said words that are considered foul language, it was not a pretty sight. My dad came back from Nevada and saw this toddler had taken control of his kingdom. He then imposed the guild lines of taking a kingdom, provided by Prince. First he tried to talk to me, when that did not work he took my door for my room which faced the living room. He then started to make what was my room part of his living room. He spent his time there, living there, making it useful as extra office space. He watched TV from there as he had placed a recliner in the door way. He made me rely on him because he had moved my toys into the living room and had taken most of the toys and donated them to other children in need. It was not long before he had his kingdom back under control seeing as rebellion was down to almost nothing.

                For a ruler, Machiavelli would say that kindness was needed only in moderation. My father, once reestablished in power, did not get back my toys nor did he give me what I wanted when I asked. He would show kindness sparingly and taught me to work hard for what I want. I did not get a lot of toys anymore, I broke no more plates, and I swear 0% of the time when in my parents are presents. Machiavelli was one of the most ambitious advisers I have ever read and his advice is of the highest quality, because it is advice that can be readily applied to many aspects in life and business. My father is proof that any toddler can feel the effects of being “princed”, having Prince’s guild lines used on them.
                Not every parent needs to use such invasive and harsh tactics to run a household however some should. I see parents at the store, looking as if they are at the end of their rope, while their toddler is yelling, no screaming for ice cream. Machiavelli did he learn what it means to be a king or how to be a king from being one. I do distinctly remember that when he wrote these guide lines, he was at the end of his rope, living at home with his wife and KIDS.  Why else would someone ask the people that tortured them for a job?