angelaschmeling

I once had a conversation with a friend of mine who was having a rough time with his son and he made the comment. “I really suck at this parenting thing.”

My response? “Parenting is not for the faint of heart.”

I think everyone has said or thought or felt that they are failing at parenting. It is not easy! This parenting thing is crazy hard!

I truly believe there is no such thing as a manual that suits all parents. There is no self-help book that will make parenting a breeze.

Some days you will feel like you are rocking it. Like you have got it made and finally figured it out. The next day you are ready to throw in the towel because your one child has yet another missing assignment and came home with an F in Math. The other is crying because they got into a fight at school and the other is giving you half truths.

You’re ready to check if the return policy is valid. You have a “moment”. You wonder what in the world you are doing wrong. You have been working with them, trying to teach them and they go off into butterfly land. (That’s my favorite term with my middle child)

For me, I can only do the best I can and cling to what Scripture says.

Train a child up in the way they should go and they’ll never part from it.

Proverbs 22:18

I will continue to work hard and train my children in what is right and true. Will I always be great at it?

Not even close! Parenting is hard, remember?

Will my kids always be amazing and perfect angels? Yeah, right! They aren’t robots. They are going to drift and alter course and try to figure things out on their own. They will make mistakes and do things wrong. That doesn’t make me a terrible parent.

But my job as a parent is to keep training them and guiding them. Then even if they go the wrong way for a time, they will never forget the things I taught them and I can have the confidence that they will come back to that.

Keep moving forward parents! You got this!