Parents want what’s best for their child. So whether you already have children, or are planning on having a children in the future, there are a few things that can help us to be the parents that God would want us to be to His children!
So, what things to we want for our children? A man named Michael Popkin explained this by saying that the purpose of parenting is, “To protect and prepare children to survive and thrive in which they will live.” We protect our children by providing for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. We prepare them by teaching them and helping them along the way, but also by letting them take responsibility for their actions. We all learn the most through our own natural consequences. Along with that, we need to set boundaries as parents and follow through with consequences. When parents do this, their children don’t benefit at all. Rather, if we do follow through with our consequences, then they learn to take responsibility and are taught to do well in society, survive, as well as thrive in the society they live in.
Surviving is to simply get by, but we don’t want them to only survive, we want them to thrive. This means that they are able to excel and succeed in life. Teaching them how to take responsibility is one way of doing this, but they will also be able to do this if we are a good support system for them, help them realize the amazing things they can do, and push them to try new things and work hard!
We need to realize that if there are certain qualities, we want them to develop, then we need to provide opportunities for them to learn and gain those qualities. We need to be a good example to them, and then let them learn from their own experiences, sometimes alongside their parents. What I mean by this, is if you want your child to be serviceable, then you need to provide opportunities for them to serve. If you want them to be patient, then teach them by not giving in to everything and having them work for things they want. If we want them to be kind and caring, then provide them with opportunities of taking care of someone or something. Those specific opportunities aren’t the only ways to teach those qualities, but if we want to truly prepare our children then we need to be purposeful in the things we want to teach them through the opportunities we provide for them!
One more thing that is important that we do for our children is make sure that they are having physical contact. In many studies with babies, they have found how important touch truly is. In fact, those who were deprived of that touch often were worse off physically and often died. Lack of contact stopped their growth. We need physical touch to survive. The easiest way of giving this contact is through hugs. It not only shows the child that they are loved, but intentional contact helps our children to be able to regulate their own emotions so that they act out less and are happier children. We need to offer it freely as well as teach them to contribute, or initiate it as well, so that they realize the importance of it, but also know what boundaries to set and know what is healthy.
When we truly try to be protect and prepare our children so that they can survive and thrive in the world we live in, then both our children and ourselves will be empowered to take on the challenges we face in this world.
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