Parenting

What is the purpose of parenting? What can we learn from parenting? Well, here are just a few simple responses to those questions. The purpose of parenting is to learn to become like God, learn how to be responsible, hardworking, and help to build up society, change the world within your household, protect and provide for a child to be able to survive in society, to bring joy, to have a sense of belonging, to give the best experience for potential, to improve the community, to provide a support network, and to provide disciple training. While we were talking about this in my Family Relations class this week one of my classmates said something that I really liked and agree with. She said, “We grow up as children wanting to be parents, and we grow as parents wanting to be like God.”

He knows the best parenting style and if we follow in his manner then we can raise successful children and be successful parents ourselves, even if it will not feel that we are successful along the way. Life is about trial and error anyway, isn’t it?

To give an example of how parents help their children survive in society I would like to share a personal experience. My parents gave me responsibility as a child and taught me how to do lots of different activities. They taught me how to be responsible for my chores, work, and school work. They taught me this and had me do it on my own, while providing the necessary support when I needed it. My parents helped me with homework if I did not understand the material and helped me study, but never did they do an assignment for me, or make an excuse for me when I did not complete an assignment. They trained me well how to do things for myself when I could do them for myself and because they did that, I can survive in college and in society. I don’t have to have my parents call in and make excuses for me in college as to why I didn’t get my homework done, or why certain documents are not being accepted because I am an adult now and can do it for myself because of the way they raised me. I can also call and make appointments for myself. I don’t have to call my parents every day asking them to do something for me or how to do it. They taught me how to be responsible for myself and how to use my resources to find the answer for myself. Long story short, teach your kids responsibility and how to provide for themselves so that they can survive in society when they are out of the house.

There are different parenting styles. We have the coercive/authoritarian styles, the permissive style, the uninvolved/disengaged style or the authoritative parenting style. The coercive/authoritarian style is characterized by parents who deride, demean, or diminish children by continually yell and try to control their children and their circumstances. The permissive parenting style consists of parents who overindulge or neglect their children by leaving them to their own upraising or consequences. The uninvolved/disengaged parenting style consists of parents who are neither loving or demanding. The authoritative parenting styles is the optimal parenting style that fosters a positive emotional connection with children, provide regulation that places fair and consistent limits on child behavior, and allow reasonable child autonomy in decision making.

The authoritative parenting style is the ideal parenting style. When a parent works to parent in this manner then they are helping their children to grow and develop in a positive manner. They are also able to provide their children with self-esteem and grow to be functioning adults in society. It is not easy to always parent in this way, and you will not get it right the first time or even the time after that, but the point is to keep trying and doing your best every day. Your parenting style will change daily and with every child because every child is different, but the optimum goal is to parent in an authoritative manner.

Click here to take a quiz and find out what kind of parenting style you have!

Ironically my mother sent me this picture as I was writing this blog, and it just goes so perfectly. She did not know I was writing about parenting, but she sent it at the right time because, you know, my mom is awesome like that!

I love my parents and I am so grateful for them. I honestly wish everybody was blessed to have parents like mine. I know that if I try to teach in an authoritative way, that I can raise successful children.