catholicsphere

Parenting is most effective when it is “do as I do” not “do as I say”. Parenting Ideas.org offers up some good advice: “COMMITMENT: Teaching Children the Lessons of a Lifetime”.

The article explains the motivation we should have as parents to commit our children to things that will teach them the lessons we want them to learn. We should not be wishy-washy about it.

It is those who commit to teaching commitment, and a hundred other lessons, who are blessed with a child grown to adulthood who can commit to themselves and others and who can be counted on to ‘be there’ when the going gets tough.

I’d like to take this a step further and say that it must be balanced and thought out. There are also those parents out there who push their children into things, not for the purpose of learning, but for a number of other reasons. Some set their children in several sports, for instance, and require that he/she be the best, for the purpose of boasting. Still others do it because it will look good on future applications to college, etc. And still others do it for the benefit of keeping their kids occupied so that they don’t have to deal with such things themselves. This is not what the article is referring to. But rather guiding them into programs that will teach “life lessons” for their benefit, and ensuring that they see that through to the end, even when they don’t like it.

Starting a task and seeing it through is an important part of development. We all, children especially, need to learn to finish what they started, even when they are unhappy. The culture inundates us with messages that tell us “if you’re not happy, just abandon the situation”. And so we have high divorce rates, low marriage rates, and ills such as abortion.

Our children need to see and understand that it is important to be true to your word. Assess the situation at the end. Only then can the fullest understanding of the positives and negatives of the situation be obtained.

How else can we possibly teach, and have our children practice, things like commitment if we never provide the opportunities for them to commit or allow them to quit because something’s not fun? When was the last time our creditors allowed us to stop paying our bills because doing so wasn’t fun?

We should also throw things into the mix like going to church, praying regularly, and reading the Scriptures.

COMMITMENT: Teaching children the lessons of a lifetime - [ParentingIdeas.org]

[tags]parenting, children, faith, catholic, christian, family, commitment, catholicsphere[/tags]