[#life Series] Parenting Part 2ናሙና

No guilt trips

This is the second part of Parenting on our #life series journey. On part one of the series we considered two principles for parenting: “Aim for the heart” and “Build a family team.” If you want to learn more, look for the Parenting Part 1 plan of the #life series.

When we talk about parenting, we can’t address every situation that may arise, but we can speak about principles. Whether you are a parent or not, it would be a good idea that you file these things away as principles you may need sometime down the road. 

As a parent, you may choose to homeschool or send your kids to private or public school. You may have six kids or one kid. You may be a single parent or have a blended family. You may have a lot of means or you may not be affluent. Maybe your kids are walking with the Lord or maybe not.

Our first assignment is to lay down any parental guilt. Lay it down before the Lord and say, “I am not perfect, and I will never be.” Your goal is not perfection. Your goal is presence. If we can have a presence in our kids’ lives, then we will be able to make a difference in their lives. If we are trying to be perfect, it will never happen.

In 1675, Lord Rochester said: “Before I got married, I had six theories on bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories.”

Maybe you are thinking, “Oh, I wish I’d read this five years ago.” If you feel like a bad parent, that is a sign that you are actually a good parent. Bad parents don’t feel like bad parents. They don’t know what is going on. We need to realize we are doing the best we can and that we need Jesus Christ. Nobody has a silver bullet on this. Nobody is perfect on this. We are raising human beings. And this is a difficult thing to do.

While you are reading, try to say this out loud and proud: “I am doing the best I can, but I need Jesus.” That is true for every parent, for every one of us: we are doing the best we can.