Parenting with Purpose

My friend, Mudpie Mama at Mud Mud Marvelous Mud, wrote a post about microchipping children. Please read her article before continuing.

I commented on the post, but it’s struck such a nerve with me that I felt I needed to write about it. And what struck me the most was how tempting it seems to go along with the idea of microchipping children. It makes “sense”, because then if they ever go missing, the Global Positioning System can be used to find them. But, I see microchipping children as just one more way parents are being told they can’t parent.

And, unfortunately, parents are listening. We can’t turn on the news without hearing about some other “new” best way to parent children. We are giving up our responsibility to parent our children out of fear that we’ll do it “wrong”.

What is the answer? What should parents do?

We should parent with more purpose. We should remember our goal as parents is to raise thoughtful, productive adults who are capable of surviving –even thriving – on their own. That goal should be in the forefront of our minds with every choice we make.

Parenting with purpose means we will accept the responsibility to educate our children. I’m not talking about homeschooling versus public schooling. I’m talking about teaching our children from the day they are born. I’m talking about being purposeful in our interactions with our children so that they have every opportunity to learn from their experiences and environment. I’m talking about reading to our children, playing with our children, talking with our children, and actively seeking ways to encourage their natural desires to learn. I’m talking about taking the time to get to know each of our children individually; their strengths and their weaknesses, too, so that we know how to best help each child achieve success.

Think about how much better prepared our nation’s children would be if every father and every mother purposefully taught their children from the time their children were infants. Our public school teachers would be able to teach our children so much more, because the “basics” will have already been taught and a love of learning already established.

Parenting with purpose means we will accept the responsibility to raise well-mannered and polite children who will grow up into well-mannered and polite adults. Imagine how much more pleasant life would be if all the adults were courteous and thought of others more than themselves. It is our responsibility to teach our children how to be polite and kind. Add to general manners a moral code of positive behavior, and our children would be powerhouses. It is even more our responsibility to model this behavior.

I know that everyone who reads this post is already doing these things. I guess I’m preaching to the choir, so to speak. I just wish there was a way to make the good work that’s being done more noticeable than all the depravities publicized on the evening news.

As parents we hear a lot about how to raise our children. “They say” to do this, or “they say” that is the best thing to do. I’m not against learning new ways to parent. But to have each new idea presented as the only way to parent really oversimplifies parenting. I wish that the “they sayers” of the world would realize that most of us parents are doing all we know how to do, and are doing a really good job.

So, let’s keep up the good work doing what is best for our children and not give the “they sayers” too much power. Let’s keep parenting with purpose – because we really are engaged in a great work that will influence the world in great ways.