Effective Parenting Strategies

This week we focused on the different parenting strategies and communication techniques we can use to help improve our relationship with our children.

First we took a look at the purposes of parenting. Not only this, but we also took a look at different cultures where parents may have been taken out of the equation. I thought this was a really good way to look at it. I don't think we realize just how important parenting is. My eyes were certainly opened  to somethings.

We made a list of some of the purposes of parenting for both the children and parents, you might also look at them as benefits. The list looked like the following:

Purposes of Parenting:

Children:

• Values, not just ideas are being taught
• Help to know of Christ/ Helps to become one of his disciples 
• Personalize/ Example
• Helps them launch into life
• Distinguishable person

Parents:

• Become more like our heavenly parents 
• Patience & Humility 
• Christ like love
• Learn about ones self
• Learn from our children
• Protect & Prepare your children to survive and thrive in the world we live in

I'd like to talk about some of these points, but first I want to tell a story. There was an infant care facility where there were two wings. In one wing the mortality rate was much higher than the other. The doctors couldn't figure out why, they tried many things, they tried switch the doctors from the other wing, they tested to see if it was a matter of cleanliness, despite all their efforts nothing changed.  One night one of the doctors was staying late for some work. He noticed that there was a woman assigned to sweep and clean the wing where the mortality rate was so much lower. As she was sweeping and cleaning he noticed that each time she got to a crib she would take a moment to hold and talk to each of the babies. The doctor asked her if she did this every night, she responded that she did. The doctor was curious so he had her switched to the wing with a higher mortality rate. The results were that there was a lower mortality rate!

I love this story because it just shows the need we have for someone to care about us. This isn't to say that the doctors didn't care about those children, but there is a need for loving physical contact in each of us. Just as there is also a need for all those things listed above. 

We should all strive to see the importance of parenting. Kids that usually act out are doing it because they don't receive sufficient attention from their parents, even if its attention in the form of discipline. Parenting has such a huge affect on the future generations, it's no wonder the scriptures tell us that the sins of our children will fall on our heads.