I'll take a turn...

My immediate reaction to the title of the book was one of a shaking head. I felt defensive. I agree with Emily- I’m relatively pleased with the way my parents “parented” me and continue to do so. That’s not to say I’ve agreed with everything that they’ve done or not done, but for the most part, I’ve avoided years of therapy from the damage they did. They got the big stuff (and about 99% of the little stuff) right on, at least in my opinion. They taught me love and still demonstrate that to this day. They taught me communication and forgiveness and I’m thankful every single day for that. They taught me to know and love God, and gave us the freedom to express that curiosity any way we wanted to.

However, when you peel away at that defensive feeling you first get when reading the book title, I thought about a few things. I’ll bullet them in an effort to keep the words to a minimum.

-Someday, our own children will be looking at their lives as parents and thinking back on the jobs we did in loving them and raising them with the same analysis that we are. And somehow, that adds both pressure and purpose (even more than we already have) in our jobs as parents.

-Even if we are 100% pleased with our parents’ examples of parenting in our lives, we have to look at our spouses and their relationships with their parents. How does our partner in this parenting adventure see things? How do they see the job our parents did? Are there things that we accept as “the right way” that they see as something they absolutely do not want to repeat?

-In what ways have I, as a mother, involved God as my guide and direction in the decisions I’ve made in my parenting style? I would say that this is an area that I’ve seriously lacked in. I made an effort last evening on the way home (perhaps the only 15 minutes of quiet free time I get in the day) to pray about my parenting skills. I asked God to show me areas that I can do a better job in helping Joshua come to know and love Him. I’m great at praying the prayer of “Lord, please give me strength.” But that one is mostly out of desperation for the moment, the day, the stage, the trial we’re working through at the time, and I’m pretty sure that’s not the kind of help He has in mind that He wants to share. So that’s an area of great need in my parenting journey.

Looking forward to digging into the first couple of chapters. Thanks for sharing your hearts and your thoughts!

Megan