Parenting

In the Sac Bee today there is a brief article by a freelance writer, Joyce Mansfield Syftestad, titled "A Moment of Realization With Teenage Daughter". She says that as she and her daughter went to the beach, she wanted her daughter to wait for her so they could walk together. But her daughter took off to go be a part of the fun. She says, "She was focused on where she was going, what lay ahead. And then it hit me. Rather than waiting for me, she should be looking forward, excited about the future, about what would come next. And as the parent of a teen, my job, now so glaringly clear as I saw her stride away, was to be there to watch her back."

KUDOS TO YOU, Joyce!!!!

That is exactly right! Our job as parents is to teach our children to become self sufficient adults. That does not mean teaching them to meet our needs. We need to be there to meet their needs and "watch their back".

Holding back your children because you feel you need something from them does not do them any favors. Work out your own issues on your time. Now that you are a parent, it is your job to be completely self-less, even though you didn't get that as a child. It is your turn now to meet the needs of your children. And really your parents should have been there and if still capable should still be there to meet your needs. That is the cycle. Your children are children, and is the time in their lives when they should have their parents there to meet all of their needs. And when they get older and have children, then it is the time for them to give of themselves.

We get from our parents and give to our children.