Parenting Is A Great Fulltime Career

I’ve been thinking about parenting lately and as we have 2 of our 6 moved out, I’m realizing that parenting is a career. It isn’t one we always choose but once we have become parents it becomes our career. We can define career as “the general course or progression of one’s working life.” Parenting is definitely progressive and as we parent each child it may be changing and evolving as a career. However, there are a few things that stay constant no matter which child you are parenting or for how long you have them as your children. Let’s look at some parenting skills that we need to be consistent at in our career (the most important one you’ll ever have).

SCRIPTURAL

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This is THE most important parenting skill we can learn. To have a godly home and to teach our child to be godly in an ungodly world, we need to KNOW our Bible. We need to know God’s Word. Starting with our personal devotions (daily reading of His Word and talking to Him) we can then teach our children the importance of a relationship with God. I can’t stress enough how important it is for our children to have the Word of God in their hearts when they leave home.

LIFE SKILLS

When we set up our homes and start living on our own there are so many skills we need in order to have not only a productive life but to have a peaceful, orderly home. Our children will need certain skill sets for this that are not difficult and can be taught while they are still at home. Teaching our children (boys and girls) how to wash dishes, dust, vacuum, clean bathrooms and even iron not only set them up for a lifetime of healthy, orderly habits IN their homes but also teach them discipline in their own lives that will care forth into their work life.

READING

As the child of a kindergarten teacher, I was always taught how important reading was. My mom taught my sisters and I to read when we were 5 and she did so because she wanted us to be able to read the Bible! Reading is THE most important school subject you can teach your child. It has the best rewards, too. I have always encouraged moms to read out loud to their kids on a daily basis from the time they are newborns through even high school. As I homeschool, I make it a point to read to all my kids. They love it. Reading has so many benefits for our children from opening up their imaginations to allowing them to read on their own what their Creator has done for them!

LOGIC

What IS logic? A definition of logic is: a method of reasoning that involves a series of statements and helps us arrive at a conclusion based on available data. If we want our kids to know right from wrong and to make sound decisions then we need to teach them early about logic (and I would add here logic based on biblical principles). Thinking (logic) shouldn’t become a class they take but a way of life for them. This will set them up to be leaders in their fields. There are so many more skills we need to teach our children as parents and we never really get to retire from this career since I have learned that our adult children continue to need us. I consider this a win-win situation because it means they never truly leave our lives but they also come back to the source of skills they were taught. This is the best review of our parenting career, I believe. Parenting is not for the faint of heart but it has the best rewards in the end if taken seriously and worked on daily.  Here is another good article on why I homeschool which, to me, goes hand in hand with parenting.   And, I have recently found and been enjoying Charlene’s daily encouragement to homeschoolers.  You can read her words of encouragement here.