3 minute read

Celebrating Parents

from May 2023

by At Home Memphis & Mid South

from May 2023, page 74

the table

STORY MICHELLE JOHNS MA, LPC-MHSP (TEMP), NCC, 200 HR E-RTY, 500 HR RYT

PARENTING IS ONE OF LIFE’S MOST REWARDING AND CHALLENGING ROLES.

Research by the Fuller Institute reveals that parents have the greatest influence in a person’s life. The relationship a child has with his or her parents, regardless of its quality, affects that child’s lifetime of internal and external relationships.

Most people start the parenting journey with the best of intentions. They work to keep their children safe, meet all their needs, protect them from harmful predators, and give them a similar or better life than they had growing up.

From the moment babies are born, parents begin preparing them for independent life. It starts with breathing on their own and continues throughout every stage of development. Children are adults for many more years than they are children dependent upon parents in life. If mom and dad do their job well, they have a better opportunity to grow with their children and not apart from them.

How people raise their children is influenced by how they were parented. They work to change things they didn’t like about their childhood and do more of the things they enjoyed.

The way adults were brought up impacts every relationship in life. If children have a good relationship with their parents, they are better equipped to handle pressure from peers and society. No matter what stage of development an adult is in with their children, there is always an opportunity to improve connections.

Realizing that people spend more years as adults with their parents and children than as children with parents or parents with children, should make it worth the time and effort to know a family’s history of legacy burdens and gifts. It is most important to become free of hurts and bring forth more gifts. Without evaluation of a person’s own history, he or she is likely to pass down a cycle that would be better broken.

Children are born with more neurons in their brain than there are stars in the sky. The ability to learn is limitless at birth and shaped by nurture from parents and the environment in which a child develops. In addition to physical health and safety, parents should pay attention to their children’s social, emotional, behavioral and cognitive skill development. They should also focus on their own well being as they care for their family. Physically, mentally and emotionally healthy parents raise healthy children and enjoy long-term joyful relationships with them.

Physical health and safety includes caring for children in a way that minimizes the likelihood of harm and encourages their ability to survive and flourish in challenging situations, while preventing all forms of mistreatment. Helping children develop emotional, behavioral, social and cognitive skills gives them the ability to safely express their feelings and emotions, exposure to broad life experiences, and education without emotional or verbal abuse.

and encouragement, and by sharing the wonder of life in everyday moments. Three ways to cultivate a relationship of growth with children are:

1. Und erstanding your own history with your parents and their parents. Reflecting on the moments in life that continue to stand out in your memory. Noting your physical, emotional and cognitive responses to standout moments and exploring them with curiosity and compassion. Writing your story can be therapeutic and helpful.

2. Makin g a way for children to create their own life with encouragement, excitement, compassion and shared curiosity. Children are a product of two people with life experiences that make their whole being. Parents owe it to them to allow them to make mistakes, learn their own life lessons, and support them on their journey.

3. Raisin g children to let them go! They have the right to be self-determined individuals apart from their parents.

All of this to say, parents should celebrate! Celebrate having been born and given life. Celebrate the opportunity to create joy with family. Celebrate knowing your story, making peace with imperfection and finding acceptance. Celebrate the story you write each and every day because of the chance God gives to renew, restore and resurrect.

Parents shape the world’s future by providing nurturing love with compassion