“The purpose for parenting is to cultivate the dreams of your children and provide the right environment for those dreams to come to pass.”
In an earlier post, I discussed the purpose of purpose. Remember purpose is the original intent of a thing’s creation. It is the reason a thing exists. With an understanding of purpose, we can now address the purpose of parenting. The majority, if not all of us (parents) want our children to become successful and positive contributors to society. We (parents) play an enormous role in our children’s lives but considering the unique challenges of a blended family exactly what is a stepparent’s role in contributing to achieving these goals.
What is Parenting?
Parenting means to love, nurture, care for and train children to become mature, happy, successful, productive and well-adjusted adults. These are our responsibilities, and we must know how to carry them out otherwise; we will not become effective and successful parents. This is why we need to know the purpose of parenting.
The Purpose of Parenting
Now, that I’ve addressed the meaning of purpose and parenting. What is the purpose of parenting? If your Chevy needs work would you take it to the Ford dealership? If your Nokia cell phone starts acting up would you take it to Verizon? My point is no one knows their product better than the manufacturer. Psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors can’t tell you why you were created. From your inception to birth, your mother carried you for nine months and yet she doesn’t know your purpose. If you acknowledge God as your creator, then we must look to God for an understanding of our purpose. The book The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The)
King Solomon one of the wisest and richest rulers who ever lived said,
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
Solomon said, “the way” not a way ― implying there is only one way our children should go through God’s Word.
Our job as parents is to teach our children to think, act and live in a way that brings honor to God.
While you might not agree with my views on creation and purpose of parenting. Hopefully, you do agree with me there must a single, clear vision and unity of purpose of all the parents involved in a child’s life for them to realize their full potential. I feel this lack of clear vision and unity among the parents after a divorce explains why children of divorce are more at risk when compared to children in intact families. Take action to make sure you and the other parents in your stepchildren’s life are on the same page regarding parenting.
- Sit down with your partner and create a vision for your child, afterwards develop a plan as to how you’ll get there.
- Initiate a relationship with your stepchildren’s dad to get their vision for their child. Your goal here is to get your child’s dad input and gain his support in creating a single vision for their child.
- Remember your purpose as parents should be the primary basis of your decisions about the welfare of your children. First and foremost, consideration should always be what’s in the best interest of the child.
“Parenting With Purpose.” Portions of this post is from http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/parenting-with-purpose-5005347.html .
