Bringing up kids is no easy task. They need to know you are in their corner but what it means to be in their corner may not always fit their preference. We are encouragers. We are educators. We are protectors. We are providers. We spur them on without running them off. What a hard balance! It is hard to know where the lines are sometimes!
Every kid needs a dad they know loves them and wants them best out of them. Every kid needs a mom who they know without a doubt loves them but doesn’t suffocate them. It is hard to know where the line is sometimes!
We want our kids to succeed so often we tell them what to do. So slowly but surely we hand off more and more responsibility to them…and more and more they are going to fail and success seems more guaranteed if they would just do things our way. But life is not about a series of successful experiences…this is why just telling doesn’t really do them justice. Give them enough enough info to start making their own decisions and be there to celebrate or to pick up the pieces. The challenges is in knowing how much information, direction and freedom to give them at any point in time. It is hard to know where the line is sometimes!
What does it look like to raise a successful child? You know you have done it, not just because people like being around them, but because people are better for being around them…and this includes your grandchildren!
Parenting is hard…we have to give ourselves some grace.
