Five Parenting “Do’s”
Parenting is difficult, yet sometimes we make it much more difficult than it needs to be. I am not trying to minimize complex and challenging situations. I am blessed to have three very well-adjusted and compliant children. I realize that not everyone shares my experience. Yet the point still stands: we complicate and overthink things sometimes. There are a handful of common sense things parents should not do, as there are some things parents should strive to do. Here are five things I have noticed in my time parenting that have produced good results. Hopefully this will be a help to other parents out there. Some of these things, maybe all, will not be brand new to you, but sometimes a reminder is just as important.
1. Love them sacrificially.
As stated above, some of these “do’s” will seem obvious, but it’s in the little details that we lose sight of the big picture. All good parents love their children. All good parents sacrifice for their children. Not all good parents do those things as consistently as they probably should. I don’t. Sometimes we have to be willing to sacrifice our time, our wants, our needs to enable our children to live their fullest life. That doesn’t mean we cater to them and their every whim though. (More on that a little later.) It does mean that at times, to show our children how much we love them, we give up our television time to play a game with them. It means that we go to school plays to support them, we attend their sporting events, we find odd jobs to help pay for their mission trip. The list goes on and on. Good parents do those things. Our children need to see self-sacrificial love played out in front of them at home. It will leave life-long marks on them.
2. Instill a proper sense of self-worth.
This is the flip side to point one. We do our children no favors if we teach them, whether by words or by actions, that they are the most important people in the world. In this day and age, self-esteem is a big deal, and parents are encouraged and told to make their kids feel like the most special and unique little treasures in the whole wide world. Parents fill their days inventing new ways to make little Johnny happy. Ways to keep Janie fulfilled and content. We do that by taking them to every event, every party, every activity. We do that by giving them everything they could ever want or need. We do that by refusing to accept their failures and using them as teachable moments and instead we find someone else to blame for the times they come up short.
This is all garbage.
Our children should feel loved, always. Our children should feel protected, always. Our children should know their true worth, always. Their true worth comes from their Creator and the fact that they were fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. They are special, but not because the world revolves around them. They are special because the person the world does revolve around loves them and made them to be His unique image bearers on the earth.
3. Say no.
This is not new or novel or original, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Children want what they want and they want it right then. Sometimes, many times, giving them that thing they want is not in their best interest. Be an adult and learn how to say no. Now, some parenting experts advise against using negative words like “no”, instead opting for positive ways to redirect. I’m no parenting expert but in their life, once they leave your home, your children will be told no on an almost daily basis. It’s part of life. Training them for 18 plus years without ever saying no is a massive disservice to their formation. It’s okay to be the “bad guy” sometimes. You are their parent, not their friend.
4. Prepare them for failure.
Your child will not be great at everything. There will be areas of life where they struggle. It might be academic, or athletic, or even social. Don’t shield them from their failures. Don’t minimize them, hide them, or blame others. Let them own their shortcomings. Not in a mean or critical way, but in a way that lets them know that they are not perfect and there are just some things they cannot do. The Disney philosophy that teaches us that anyone can do anything as long as they believe is incomprehensibly stupid and borderline evil. We can’t all be NBA players. We can’t all be professional musicians. Teach your children to work hard, as hard as they can, but to understand that some things will be out of their reach. Some things are beyond their skill. And that is totally okay. It does not make them less than. It does not mean they are worthless. Help them find those things they are good at. Direct their energy towards areas where they are skilled. Challenge them to dream big. But let them fail. Let them learn that life is not always “fair.” Don’t handicap them with built in excuses about how the world is against them when things don’t go their way.
5. Say you’re sorry.
This one is probably the most difficult of all. We mess up. We mess up at our jobs. We mess up at home. We mess up as parents. We need to model repentance with our children. When we screw up with our kids, tell them. Ask their forgiveness. Say you are sorry. This teaches them that we will never get to a point in our lives where we are above mistakes and failings, but it will also teach them that there is forgiveness and restoration if repentance is sought. Our children need to see our broken hearts. They need to see our acknowledgement of sin and failures. They need to have faith that we hold ourselves to the same standards we are holding them. If you have not done this before, it will be very difficult the first few times. Do it enough and it will feel completely natural. God will bless a home that is transparent and accountable.
Hopefully these five things are already a part of your parenting life. If not, I hope something in here will help you in your journey. Please share your comments and ideas below. I love to interact with other parents and learn ways to better myself as a father.
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Not a parent yet but one of the things I appreciate in hindsight was being told “No” when I was young, even when I whined. I remember once being at a theme park with our entire church and at the end of the day everyone had gathered around the shops near the exit. I wanted a Scooby-doo stuffed animal. I wanted the big one. My mother, trying to be gracious yet wise with money, agreed to get me a small one. I complained but she didn’t budge. I remember that so well. It was good for me, even in a seemingly small moment.
Children need boundaries. Telling them “no” is one way to establish those boundaries.
Outstanding, Phill. Each point, taken by itself, is extremely valuable. Together, they form a strategy, a defense, that will greatly help children. Thank you.
Phill, you are right on point with these “parenting dos.” Thanks for sharing!
My husband and I have an 8 year old son. One day this week there was a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon. I know what time my son’s bus arrives and about 10 minutes before the bus was due to arrive I saw about 4 cars pull up at the bus stop so “little johnny” didn’t get wet. Now, I was strongly tempted to do the same, but I chose not to. I had told my son to take a raincoat earlier on in the day, and he chose not to. So, he got wet coming home. He had to walk up the street to our house in the rain! Guess what, he didn’t melt!! I would add not to make life SUPER EASY for our children either. There are key lessons they need to learn from misakes, or difficulties, and other misadventures. They need to learn basic coping skills. Now, my son will think twice when it’s raining about taking his raincoat!! 🙂
Great story and example.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this list, Phill. And I agree with every point. This sounds a lot like what my wife and I were talking about in the car just a couple weeks ago on the road to Charlottesville. Who knew there were actually others who thought like us on the issue of parenting!?
So basic and so needed. Thanks for the re-release.