Are you a Godly Parent, or Are You a No-good Parent?
Now, who am I to talk about parenting? I am neither married, nor do I have any children of my own. However, what I do have is an accumulation of 12 years of experience working with children and teenagers from the age of toddlers to youth. Here are some reflections that have been garnered over the years. These have come as a result of the observations of best and worst practices carried out by the parents of the children and youth under my charge, and also of the general parent I have encountered in the streets. We lift our families up to the most capable hands of the Holy Family.
“Train up the young in the way they should go. When they are old, they will not swerve from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
Not Praying Together
A family that prays together, stays together. Not enough dedicated time is set aside for family prayer which sanctifies and unifies the family. Family Prayer Time also teaches the child to keep God as the priority and to turn to God at all times.
Preaching and Prescribing
Children learn what they live. Many parents make the mistake of telling their children what to do, without living out what they say themselves. For example, a parent, may tell a child to be generous, but when approached by an opportunity for charity, quickly usher themselves and their children aside.
Letting Your Child Watch Things Indiscriminately
As children grow, they develop a sensory vocabulary that informs their world. Our visual senses are acutely attuned to enable us to see immediately the world around us. What a child watches impacts his or her visual memory. A parent must be discerning about what his or her children watches. Some films which seem innocent contain a visual text, symbols, and iconography which are rather subversive. Some are even contrary to the Catholic Faith. Be vigilant!
Not Reading Scripture
Scripture is the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6) and not many families are reading it together, or enough. We are not arming ourselves and our children with a scriptural arsenal, that can be drawn upon in times of need and at different stages of our lives.
Not Spending Time Together
There are some parents who leave parenting to everyone else but themselves. Children need intimacy, hugs, kisses, and together time with their parents. If parents are not going to have deep conversations with their children, who are they going to turn to? Family Time, cannot be Television Time.
By Brian Bartholomew Tan