What's In a Name?

I have often pondered a thought: why is it that you need a license to practice Psychology, drive, hunt, practice medicine, practice law, sale liquor, and sale real estate? however, you do not need a license to be a Parent! Wow! Food for thought, right?
Being a Parent is a HUGE responsibility that some take for granted or pass on to older siblings, extended family members, and even grandparents to do in their absence for whatever reason that may be. One can hold the "Title" or "Name" of Mommy and Daddy but still not play the role of Parent. A Parent parents their child; they are nurturing, attentive, guiding, supportive, empowering, committed, positive, responsible, dependable, kind, caring, loving...I could go on and on. Being a Parent is such a HUGE responsibility that its commitments are mentioned in the Bible.
Where does "bad parenting" come from? The adult who finds him/herself faced with being a parent, looks back and cannot remember being parented themselves. When you know better, you do better. Period. Being aware of the fact that you should give your all to being a parent is one of the first steps to being a great parent. When you consider other tangible things in your life which you consider to be assets, do you think of your role as a parent as an asset? If not, you should. Parenting and raising children with qualities such as setting boundaries and expectations, empowering them to succeed, teaching them time management skills, values, morals, beliefs, and social competencies are all tools which will support their growth and development as people. If you do not instill in your children a positive identity of themselves, how do you expect it to occur?
If you are not the person(s) in your child's life to foster their growth and development, can you truly expect that child to respect you? Children have rights as well as adults do. Children have a right to be loved and nurtured from committed parents; if you are not this doing this, you are violating the rights of your children. Of course, we can never do everything perfect, but we should our best to get as close as possible.
Supporting our children with love, care and attention while empowering them to make the best possible choices while clearly setting expectations and boundaries will assist us in nurturing them to have a commitment to learning. The positive values, morals and beliefs we instill in them will be the positive values which guide them through life.
After all shouldn't we want to raise assets, not liabilities?
I know your time is valuable, and I thank you for sharing it with me. Until we chat again...

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