Parenting Is An Art

Originally posted at Writeindependent.org on September 8, 2011

What happened to good parenting?

As parents, we are tired. We work so hard, or have so many demands and responsibilities that we can’t spend the time and attention on our loved ones.

So the kids have their own lives, periods of time separate from their us, watching TV, playing video games, hanging out with friends, unsupervised for much of the time. These are their influences: TV, mass media, friends who are influenced not by human interaction, but by a frenetic fast paced life.

A famous actress once said: “Children today grow up too fast to know the meaning of romance.” I liked this saying because I had a very slow childhood on a farm in Pennsylvania, where a walk in the woods was as good as spending time with a friend.

So what is romance? It’s a combination of slowing down enough to notice, of paying close attention to something, and of letting the joy in your heart sing about the wonder of it all. It takes a slow meditation to get to that place of romancing the world or finding the state of romance.

Basically, romance is a celebration of joy. Do our kids feel that in their everyday lives? When a kid gets in touch with her joy, she knows instinctively that life is worth living, and she will respect life, honor it as sacred. From this place, she can learn to respect other people, respect her work as an expression of her self, and respect her place in the world.

As parents, the best parenting begins with showing our joy every time we look in the faces of our children. If you haven’t slowed down enough to look into the face of your child to celebrate that feeling lately, then it’s time.

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