Oct 20
Someone has suggested I might have a template problem. That’s just not true. I can quit anytime.
Yesterday was a challenging day. One of those family fun days that’s not so much fun. Successful parenting includes raising children who actually like each other as adults. At the end of the day you try to explain these things to your children so they will understand the importance of getting along and being kind / nice to each other.
I marvel at how the simplicity of "treat someone like you would want to be treated" is hard to live out. It shouldn’t be a surprise because of how much trouble we adults have applying this simple truth.
8 Responses to “A Template for Parental Challenges”
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October 20th, 2006 at 10:10 am
I hear you! I don’t know the details about your situation, but I do know more about mine than I’d like to. I’m struggling to get my kids to love each other so that they’ll want to spend time together when they are older. My brother and I had to get into our mid/late 20’s before we started wanting to try to be around each other. I hope better things for my boys.
October 20th, 2006 at 10:28 am
I hope others learn faster than my sisters and I. It has taken us 40 years to really appreciate
and enjoy being with each other. The last five years we have tried to get together once a year or at least once every other year. When our mother died last year, we realized we’ve wasted precious time–we have each other (and our spouses). I thank God that we decided to keep certain subjects off limits, and that we all look forward to our next reunion.
October 20th, 2006 at 10:34 am
I hated it when my kids acted like adults!
October 20th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Being an only child I escaped this particular nuance of family life. I did play city league softball with 2 brothers once. One played in the infield at 3rd, the other was a leftfielder.
When Bro.#1 missed a ball at 3rd, Bro.#2 would yell, “That’s an error!†When Bro.#2 missed a ball in the outfield, Bro.#1 would yell, “That was catch-able!†Many a time we had to separate them from each other in the dugout.
Good news, they still love each other and go on vacations together. Hang in there Bro.
October 20th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Bill Cosby said that if you only hve one child it doesn’t even count as parenting because if the lamp is broken, you know who did it. Ha!
I have four and sometimes I wonder if they even care about each other, but tonight was a victory. I saw my only son help his twin sister up from the floor and later on even gave her a hug before they left the school. WOW!
Hang in there like a hair in a biscuit!
October 20th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
“…hair in a biscuit!” Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are! Only a boy from Alabama would come up with that. We love him, bless his heart.
October 21st, 2006 at 1:12 am
We were in 1 John 4 in our home Bible study and I asked the participants when was the last time anyone had called someone a “Liar”, thinking that it hadn’t been done in a long time. Then Stephanie reminded us that our kids were in the study. I guess all kids have trouble getting on at times.
October 21st, 2006 at 11:19 am
My husband and I have recently taken on the daunting task of raising our two nephews, one 13 and one 14. They were raised, or not raised, by an alcoholic, drug abusing mother and deserted years ago by their father. They fiercely defend, applaud and encourage and protect one another. I raised three of my own and it took one of them becoming very ill and finally losing her life for my children to express this same fierceness for one another. How strange and sad it is that two who have been so ill treated have learned what it takes our own so long to get,
I am aware there are numerouse psychological reasons for this, but it is an interesting phenomenon.