Parenting 101 - Raising Responsible Children

Parenting is a lifetime commitment and can even be a difficult day to day task. It develops character for both parent and child and gives both an opportunity to grow and evolve.

If you start with the end in mind and decide what kind of child you would like to see as an adult, it may help to set your goals and focus on the methods you chose to use. Do you want your child to be curious, empathetic, self supportive, resilient, creative have integrity; or selfish, dishonest, insensitive, insecure and unreliable? The list could go on and on but whatever traits you want to instill in your child will require parents or guardians to be intentional in the process.

We, as parents must be intentional about the process of parenting or we might fall into the trap of letting our own ego get in the way. When we say I want my child to be happy we are sometimes looking at our own definition of happiness rather than theirs.

Children rarely know what will make them happy in the early stages of life. A twirl around the room doesn’t necessarily indicate that he/she wants to be a ballerina or the toss of a ball a professional ball player. When we enroll them in various activities it may very well be our own desire to fulfill something that went lacking in our own childhood. There is nothing wrong with involving them in activities but make sure they are having the chance to be discovery seekers, play innovators, problem solvers, and the like as they grow and develop.

The first step in developing responsible children is to “know” your child. That might sound trivial or insignificant but it might make the difference between your child becoming successful in his/her eyes and not just yours. Being responsible includes being dependable, keeping your word, doing something to the best of your ability, accepting credit when you do things right and acknowledging mistakes, and being a contributing member of the family at home, school and in the larger world as they grow up.