"Mommy, help me, PUH-lease?" my 3 year asks on a daily basis. Yes, as the title may indicate, we have many purposes as parent. I often try to remember what my main purpose IS, as I move through my day.
As parents we make innumerable decisions within our day, that concern our children. These may range from the mundane, such as when to make for dinner to the routine, such as getting ready to get out the door in the morning. BUT what is the goal of us, the big people, in these little one's lives? Is it to teach them how to become legendary baseball players? Or is it to make them happy smiley little humans?While both sound like great goals, I have determined that my goal is neither, directly.
My main goal, as a parent, I have determined, is to simply, raise a human that is an independent, self motivated person, who others want to be around. Or, simply to create an independent person who makes logical decisions. For every trip that our family takes, class we sign up for and each day we live, I continue to keep in mind this important goal.
I would be interested to hear what you, my friends think. What is your most important role as a parent?
I wrote a lengthy post about it at Coming up with a Parenting Style: Visions of Grown-Ups that's too long to repost here. In short, I totally agree with the underlying theme of your post, that we should have a goal or a "vision" of what we are producing. You are perceptive!
ReplyDeleteBTW, nice credentials. You should have some good advice ... I have subscribed.
Thanks, "Perfect Dad" ! : )
ReplyDeleteI believe that we must keep a purpose for everything that we do in mind. Even something as simple as making dinner each night, I remind myself that I am to provide nutrition, energy and comfort to my family. I cannot, however, motivate myself to come up with reason good enough to do the dishes every night, unless we are running out of plates! : )