“RAISING GREAT KIDS IN A TROUBLED WORLD”
The word for you today asks, “Have you ever wished for a parenting do-over”? Knowing what we know now, I wonder just how many of us, if given the chance, would return to the beginning, when our child was first born.
Just think, we would be able to address the blame of feeling like we might have been awful parents. We could remove the question, “Where did I go wrong with this child?”
Listen honestly, there is no perfect parent we have all fallen short somewhere along the line in our parenting skills. We do our best not to repeat the things we didn’t like about our parents. And said we would be different when it came time to raise our own. We tried our best not to incorporate those hard rules, but, sometimes we found that those rules were necessary.
Let’s share a laugh, we do not teach our babies how to tell a lie, but if asked, “Did you do that”? even with you watching them as they did it, they would reply, “No”. Therefore, begins their first lesson, “You should not tell untruths”. From toddlers to teenagers, we take on a different world, theirs, and ours.
We are to provide them with the protection of the ills of this world that we live in. They do not see this world as we do, just as we did not view it from the eyes of our parents. Proverbs tell us to get understanding and to get wisdom, those two go hand in hand.
Remember you have already walked the road they are walking now – maybe a different day and year, but you’ve walked it. Be open to listening, rather than judging, and know that open ears and closed mouths learn more about your young one and their world.
My prayer is, LORD, help me and show me how to accomplish the requirements of being as good a parent as possible. Help us to show sincere love, listen, understand, share the good and the bad, respect, and encourage with unconditional love and acceptance.
Blessings,
Elder Barbara Hayes
TWFYT | FLSB | The Church Within You! podcast.
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