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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Differing Parenting Styles

When my son was a toddler, I was his primary caregiver. I decided what to feed him, when to bathe him, what was appropriate for him to watch on TV, and how to dress him. One day, another mom and I decided to go out to lunch—leaving our kids under the care of our husbands. My friend was anxious the whole time we were gone. She kept wondering if her husband would care for the child properly. Her parenting style and standards were different than her husband’s. She asked me how I could stay so calm! I shrugged and replied: “My son is with his father—I’m confident that he is in good hands. I’m sure my husband is NOT going to do everything the way I do it—but who says my way is always the best?” My friend felt I was being way too cavalier and uncaring about my child.

Now my son is a young adult and no longer under my care. He makes his own decisions, and my influence over him is minimal. I’m anxious about his welfare and constantly worry about his safety.

My son is under Our Father’s care. I’m sure God’s parenting style and standards are different than mine—so things might not work out the way I want them to. How come I am not able to be at peace and trust God to take care of my son? 

Maybe this level of trust is not humanly possible—but nothing is impossible with God.

Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will transform me and enable me to trust in YOU unequivocally. 

2 comments:

  1. The hardest thing we do as a parent is to allow our Children to grow wings and fly. Perhaps the reason you are not at Peace is because you simply cannot "visibly see" how God has been the real Father all along guiding both you and your husband to be the parents you are.

    As humans, we instinctively question everything we cannot see and forget that feeling is so much more important than seeing. Everything in this life has the potential to be an optical illusion. ~ Laura

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  2. :-) Thx for the feedback Laura.

    ReplyDelete