The Joy of Parenting

Our most prized possession in this life is our family.  One of the greatest joys I have is teaching, guiding and sharing learned lessons to help better our families.  My most amazing husband, Joe, has been my best friend for 45 years on September 2 of this year.  I wish I could say that when we said those vows and later had our wonderful children that we had all the knowledge we needed to have a successful marriage and the “know hows” to raise our kids.  That would be a NOT!  We probably learned most of our skills from experience and actually would love to do it all over again – this time with what we know now. (I know – in my dreams!)

Even though we learned so much the hard way, we are pleased to say that we have four absolutely amazing children that make us happy and proud. They all love God, serve God and could not be better to us in so many ways.  With God’s guidance, we have outstanding kids.

I remember when Joe and I first married…I had no clue how to be a good wife and parent.  When our children were born, I made it my job to read as much as I could to add to my motherly instinct and help mold four awesome kids.  I would read and pass on the information to my husband and together we would work implement what we’d learned.

With all this in mind, I invite you to glean from any knowledge we have learned from experience, research, and from others.  I invite you to join me as I share insights, words of wisdom and techniques to be an even greater parent so you can continue to create a masterpiece.

Let’s partner up in working hard to create a family that is godly, loving and full of fun!  (Oh, yes…we must have the fun too – and lots of it!!!)

If you find this blog interesting or informative, please share it with others.  Let’s make it a group effort to create a family that would win a prize!!!

Today I want to talk about Creating Character in Your Child.

Character:  The set of qualities that make somebody distinctive – qualities that make them interesting or attractive.

Believe it or not, when that baby was born and placed in your arms God was giving you a human being to create into something priceless.  It is not our job to just feed and clothe our children and watch them turn into “whatever.”  As parents, we are given the responsibility to create not just another person, but a masterpiece.

I pray you have chosen to create a masterpiece with great character, which is again a person that has a set of qualities that are distinctive, attractive and interesting.

Yes, a child with good character is created by the parents.   So many think that a kid is just whatever they appear to be…    

               If he is mean, he was born mean.  

               If she is moody – well, that is just her.

               If he talks back, you think you just have to live with it to keep peace in the home.

As you can take a piece of clay and create a beautiful piece of pottery, you can take a child and create a masterpiece.  Parent, you have that ability.  Of course, it takes work and if a child is left to be “whatever” then that is just what they will be…whatever.

The first thing you have to decide is that you WILL do what you can to create great character in your children.  After you have made that initial decision and have determined what kind of person you want them to grow up to be, then you are on the right path.  Then it’s time to take the journey and go to work by taking the role of parenting very seriously. This includes making all efforts to not only learn the best methods of parenting, but to begin using those methods to create your masterpiece.

I’ve built a foundation today and hope I have said something to provoke your interest in joining me as we add to our knowledge we already have to enhance our parenting skills. Wherever we are as a parent, let’s make the decision to sharpen our parenting skills to create a masterpiece.  God expects us to learn all we can to become the best parents we can possibly be.

Yep, parenting is WORK.  

There is no doubt about it.  

So let’s go to work

   and mold our little ones into a

    godly, holy and loving person

that is admired.

“Don’t excuse yourself by saying, ‘Look, we didn’t know.’  For God understands all hearts, and He sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people (let’s say parents) as their actions deserve.” – Proverbs 24:12  NLT 

Suggested To Do:  Go in your child’s room and pray a covering over them as they sleep. Pray that God will protect them physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Suggested Family Time:  Grab some bags and take a nature walk.  Help the kids collect all kinds of outdoor things such as leaves, stones and even insects.  Use your imagination with what you’ve collected a create a collage with paper and glue.  Have them talk about the things they observe in God’s creation.  This can be for all ages and is good family bonding time!  

Recommended Reading:  Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul 2 (Jack Canfield) This is a great book with character building stories.  It would be good to read with your children through preteen age.

Time to Smile:  There are 3 kinds of grocery shoppers.  The ones who pick up all the healthy things; the ones who pick up all the junk, and the ones who end up running around the aisles picking up their kids. 🙂