Whether we want it to or not, once we are parents, we have one of the most difficult and one of the most important jobs in the world. The funny thing though, is that we can go to high school to learn our three R’s, and college to broaden our horizon and learn about our future careers, but nowhere is there any real formal education for our incredibly important and difficult job as a parent raising and shaping our next generation.
So, what do we do? I’m glad you asked. As parents we have to work extra hard to figure out who we are and what our parenting goals are. By figuring out who we are, we’ll be able to better regulate ourselves and better deal with those times that our children just want to do their own thing and not our thing. Furthermore, we’ll also be able to be more aware of how our past experiences with our own parents influences our present parenting and where it is helping our family and where it’s hurting us in our daily interactions with our own children.
Understanding what makes us happy and what makes us tick actually helps our children better understand themselves, as well as what makes them happy and figure out what makes them tick too. The beautiful thing about this journey of discovery is that we get to learn more about ourselves as we’re also learning more about our kids while making this world a better place. As a side note, we may also finally be able to get a better grasp on why our parents did some of the things that they did too.
Now, as my Granddaddy always said, “Go learn, lead, and lay the way to a better world for all of us.” Even though parenting can often be a very tricky endeavor, let’s do our best to enjoy the ever-moving and ever-changing art of parenting. It won’t be easy, but it will be well worth it. And once again parents, thanks in advance for all that you do, and all that you will do…