Cox News Service presents the ten most frequent challenges of being a parent.
Gregory Ramey writes (excerpt):
1. Remaining calm. . . .
2. Staying physically fit. . . . Maintaining an exercise regiment becomes important for a parent’s health and to meet the many demands of parenthood.
3. Letting go. . . . Knowing when and how to let our children experience the real world is a tough part of being a parent.
4. Dealing with friendships. Aside from parents, our children’s friends are the most important influence on their development. You want some impact on those decisions, but beyond grade school it’s difficult.
5. Avoiding being overprotective. We want our children to be safe, but the world feels so dangerous. There is an inclination of parents to overly supervise and safeguard their children from any pain or perceived threat. In doing so, we leave them ill-equipped to deal with the real world when they are beyond our supervision.
6. Dealing with the personalities of different children in the same family. . . . Flexibility is the key, as parents learn to adjust to the different needs of each of their children.
7. Living in a society with values that seem so wrong. We see many acts of kindness and caring, but we also experience a world of hate, nastiness and dishonesty. . . .
8. Being a good role model. What we do teaches more than what we say. . . .
9. Staying consistent. Parents have been persuaded that being consistent is critical to being an effective parent. It’s an impossible and unnecessary standard. Parents feel they are somehow hurting their child if they occasionally vary their rules and consequences depending upon the situation.
10. Balancing your personal needs with those of your children and spouse. . . . It’s knowing when to do what that seems to be the most difficult part of having children.