Are You Parenting the Right Way?

Since there are so many ways to parent and – in my non-expert opinion – no one right way, I think we should change the main question we are asking ourselves.  Instead of trying to figure out, “Am I parenting the right way?”, I think we should shift our focus to “Am I the adult I want my child to grow up to be?”  Whew.  I just stepped on my own toes.  This thought train is both freeing to me, and more challenging because it requires consistency on my part.  Here is how Mrs. Brown describes it:  “The space between our practiced values (what we are actually doing, thinking, and feeling) and our aspirational values (what we want to do, think and feel) is the value gap, or what I call ‘the disengagement divide’.”  Here is an example.  Do you go out to a fast food restaurant and order chicken strips and fries while pulling out your child’s steamed veggies and organic juice from your bag?  Do you long for your child to have an attitude of gratitude, understand the value of money and not constantly expect new things – and yet you don’t curb your spending and give into impulse buying whenever you feel like it? (Yes, that is an example from my life.)  Do you encourage your child to participate in sports and be active, yet they never see you exercise?  Do as I say, not as I do parenting does not work.

Part of good parenting is letting go of the dreams you have for your child and letting them create their own.  I have decided that it is most important to me for my kids to be like Christ.  I am letting go of the desire for my kids to be straight A students, star athletes, popular, or artistically talented.  Although there is nothing wrong with any of those things, they take a back seat to being Christlike.  So I have to work on my value gap.  For my kids to be Christlike, they must see Christ in me.  And can we all agree to support each other as parents and not shame each other about what movies we let our kids see or whether we use cloth or disposable diapers?

P.S.  If you didn’t get the ROUS reference above, run to find the movie “Princess Bride” and watch it with your family.