Today I am very tired. I am exhausted from a sleepless night with Madelyn. Not sure why she is so fussy today. Both Jayden and Mady have runny noses but she has been really fussy and not taking naps either today. I am trying to finish up my homework assignment for our class tomorrow night. Josie and I are taking a parenting class at church, entitled -Defining your child's destiny.
I am learning so much from the class and am excited about this assignment. We are to write letters to our children to explain our hopes and dreams for them. The letters are not to be opened until their 21st birthdays. We are also to express the benefits of following God's will for their life and the key to opening the channel of blessings from God: Obedience.
I started Jayden's letter and have it almost complete. It is a challenging task to hit on all the areas that I think will be pertinent to tell him at the age of 21. But it is really beneficial to lay out your dreams and hopes for your child at this age so that you can be sure that you are leading them in the right direction from the start. I think so many parents think of parenting as the ability to provide for the child's needs in the here and now. Not many parents sit back and say what am I doing right now that will help my child develop Godly character and how will I teach my child to obey God and listen for His direction.
Since we started this class, I feel that I have new goals for instructing my children. And I realize how important it is that I use teachable moments throughout the day to instill morals and explain Christ's love (agape love) to my child. I do feel truly blessed to have the ability to be here with my children throughout the day.
We are learning in our parenting course that we have to very cautious about what goes into our children's minds. It may mean that you have to shelter your children from events or people at times. Our teacher is very to the point, she tells it like it is. She says " You deserve what you tolerate and what you tolerate will dominate.... What you deserve in life, is what you tolerate (from your children, your family, your friends etc). If you tolerate piss poor behavior from your little ones or from friends, then you deserve it. It is important to set firm boundaries from an early age with your children and make sure as a couple you are both on the same page. We were also instructed to be careful how often we allow our children to be subject to negative influences. We are learning that being a parent means that we have to guard all relationships around us because our children are little sponges and they learn through examples. Examples set by us and others around them. I am also learning that there is always good resources around us to read and scriptures to help us become better parents, as well as courses like the one we are currently taking.
As parents, our job is not just to provide food and clothing and wipes tears when they fall down, but we are called to launch our children into becoming children with Godly character. We are here to help them learn what our purpose in life is: To love God with your whole heart and to share His love with those around us.
