But I did.
"I am glad that I am not raising children today"
Now in essence I still am as my youngest is still in her teens. (Granted I just stepped out of a week of being with 6 of my grandchildren for 24 hours a day :)
But the current seems stronger today as we swim upstream. The family is being lulled to sleep as never before. There is a financial crisis demanding that both parents work in many families. Because of guilt and keeping up with the Jones we buy our children the newest of every gadget and have our children involved in many extra activities. Chores are not mandatory and children for the most part are not learning at their "parent's knee" but being parented by the television, afterschool care and the playground.
It concerns me. I took my grandchildren to see the Wizard of Oz this last week and as I watched the scene of the poppies that brought sleep upon the group skipping through the field. .(It was a tactic the wicked witch used to keep them from their destination) I see the same thing happening today.
Parents, please check your pulse. Are you awake or dozing? Take a long hard look at how the kids are doing and see if things are getting ahead of you. There is no time as good as present to take ground back that you may have lost.
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Blessings!
it's funny that you say this because it seems to me that many in my generation are more in tune with their options as parents and trying to seek out ways to be more prepared!
ReplyDeletehonestly though, i think in every generation there are parents who are invested and parents who aren't. parents who know how to navigate the needs of a family, and parents whose needs are so unfulfilled that their selfishness overtakes them and their parenting abilities suffer.
it seems like with my grandparents generation, children weren't heard or seen. now, it is known that the first 5 years of a child's life is extremely influential in how that person will be/communicate/think as an adult. not to say every parent takes this seriously! but i do. so at least there are some of us out there that see our children as our main ministry. :)
we have been very influence by Crystal Lutton's work. grace-based parenting it's called. LOVE IT. it's actually changed the way i understand the Gospel and how that should influence our parenting. have you heard/read her work? i'd be interested to know who your main influences were in your parenting... seeing as you navigated 12 kids!! :)
lots of <3 marnie!!
<3 crystal
It's funny right after I published this blog I realized ...even though I do stand by what I wrote, that my perspective was fogged by my tiredness after having the grandkids for a week of fun and games. They were all great but I had been looking thru 58 year old eyes at 6 children 5,6,7,9,11,11, 24/7 for a week :)
ReplyDeleteI agree there are some GREAT PARENTS out there! My children being some of them BUT I do see ALOT of kids falling through the cracks because the parents are still self-consumed. It's a full time job!
Thanks of reading and writing!
As a single mom of 3 children ages 14, 9 and 5, child care has been quite an issue. Thankfully, my youngest child has been taken care of by my mom while I work part-time as a substitute assistant teacher in the elementary schools here in town. She has never been in day care or even a preschool but, I know she is prepared to go into Kindergarten this year-
ReplyDeleteMy children all have at least 2-3 daily chores.
I very much agree that chores are needed and I even give an award (ex. movie from library) for the 2 youngest children at the end of the week if they do all their tasks. I do not believe in giving money for chores. I pray that parents today would just stop buying some of those expensive gadgets and maybe they would not have to work so much. Then, they could just spend more quality time with their children...they grow up too fast.
Cheryl! Thanks for reading and taking the time to write. I applaud your courage ..I too never gave $ for chores (although I wont argue the point) but children need parental interaction as often as possible
ReplyDeleteGood Job
Have you seen Musings with Marnie