Meeting The Challenges Of Raising Children

Parenting is both a never-ending process and a journey. Fathers are working hard to provide for the needs of their offspring. Most mothers are placing their dreams and other career options on the back burner in favor of raising children. Yet some parents find their labors futile, while others are more fortunate enough to watch their kids strengthen their “roots” and grew up with sturdy “wings.”

American physician and researcher Jonas Salk once said : “Good parents give their children roots and wings. Roots to know where home is and wings to fly away and exercise what’s been taught them.” This is what every parent hopes for their children. To enable them to firmly establish their roots while they are young and strengthen their wings to enable them to fly when the time comes.

But how does one create a stable and nurturing home nowadays? Parenting experts Pat and Larry Downing, writing in their “Feel Good Parenting” website, offers the following tips:

* Create an atmosphere that is loving and welcoming, so it feels good to be home.

* Establish clear expectations and reasonable consequences.

* Treat them like valued members of the family.

* Encourage their creativity.

* Respect their ideas, even if you don’t agree with them.

* Have fun together.

The couple says, if we are able to make our children feel safe and secure in their own homes, they will be able to tackle the challenges at school bravely and with more confidence. And how can we make sure that their wings are sturdy enough to tae flight when the time comes? Here’s the tips the Downings offer to help us give our children wings:

* Give the responsibilities early, increasing with time.

* Help them develop values by your examples and by setting definite limits.

* Give them choices early and increasingly as they are able to handle them.

* Give them permission to explore and make mistakes and experience the results of those choices,

not as punishment, but as a way to learn what works and what doesn’t.

* Help them find their gifts, find what they love, so they will have passion for life and a sense of

purpose.