Adventures in Parenting

Today is the Last Day of our 30 Days to Better Parenting Challenge!

If you have been following this series on 30 Days to Better Parenting, you will notice that much of what we’ve been trying to do is improve relationships within the family, particularly with our children. When the family has a strong foundation of love and respect for one another, and when family members actually “like” each another, parenting becomes much easier.

Good relationships do not happen by themselves. They must be intentionally cultivated.

When we go to school, we don’t expect to naturally know math. We have to work at it and learn it.

When we go to work, we expect challenges and hard work.

Even when we play, such as a sport, we know we have to practice in order to be proficient. The enjoyment of the game increases when we become better players at the game.

But it’s a wonder why we do not expect to have to work on relationships. We assume that being born into the same family, or sometimes being put into the same family by marriage will naturally evolve good relationships. The second law of thermodynamics doesn’t even support that notion.

We must create as much opportunity as we can to form positive relationships. When the storms come, and they will come, a foundation of strong relationships will weather through arguments, disagreements, misunderstandings, annoyances, teenage rebellion, generation gaps, and all the issues that come with being a family.

For our final day of our 30 Days to Better Parenting Challenge, our task is to simply put our arms around each of our children, and tell them you love them unconditionally. Whether you have a 2 year-old or a 22-year-old, those words can never be spoken too often. They are usually not said often enough.

I am a grown woman, yet, I still long to hear those words from my dad.

You may be going through some tough times right now. Maybe your child is in rebellion, shutting you out of his life, or struggling with addictions. I know that no matter what the circumstances are, your heart as a parent is always there with your children. Let them hear again those words expressing your unconditional love. They are waiting to hear those words of affirmation from you.

Photo by uayebt