The Parenting Degree

Parenting cannot be taught and there is nothing called as perfect parenting. Parenting is a wonderful journey of bringing a new life in this world and giving her wings to fly.Parenting is something most of us yearn for at some point in our lives, and then when it is bestowed on us we find we know next to nothing about being a mum or a dad. All the books, degrees and free flowing advice don’t really provide much help.I believe parenting is a gift from God. It is to be appreciated and cherished. Being a parent is like sitting on a see-saw. There are highs and lows. At times, you are bursting with pride and at others you feel like slinking away into some deep dark corner.Parenting is about caring and giving until it hurts, and expecting nothing in return.As parents we are constantly learning and teaching. We learn to cope with the needs and sometimes impractical demands of our children. The tantrums of a toddler can be quite an unsettling experience, but we soon learn how to cope with the hot little heads. The tumultuous teenage years are times when our patience and endurance is put to the ultimate test.True, the going at this time is tough, but after a few hiccups, more often than not we find that ladla has not turned out to be so bad a bloke after all. And that makes it all worth it. Yet, parents are not infallible.Swallowing ones pride and admitting to mistakes is also part of the "How to be a parent curriculum".Children are wont to ask innumerable questions. Parenting is answering with a cool head the sometimes intelligent, sometimes silly and sometimes embarrassing whys, hows and whats. There will be the times when you will have no answer to their questions. Many times their queries will stump you but the key is to deal with these types of situations patiently.Patience is an important tool which parents should always carry. Our children will always test our patience from time-to-time. Right from controlling their tantrums to correcting the mistakes that they do in their teenage years, patience is all that we need.Teaching our children to differentiate between right and wrong, inculcating in them the importance of prayer and other values that make them good human beings is an important vocation. We alone can instil in them a sense of discipline and make them feel worthwhile by spending quality time with them.But just spending quality time with children is not enough, practising what we preach is also very important. Remember, we are our children’s very first role models. They learn most of the things by observing us. In fact our children are our mirror image. So, it is very necessary to be how we want our children to be. The way we talk, the way we behave is actually absorbed by our children and implied in their practical life. Our habits, our manners, the way we conduct ourselves in front of other, the way we treat other is what children are always watching. These behaviours unknowingly create a deeper impact on their growth and development and ultimately on their prospective life.Our aim? To give them and make them THE BEST. Best education, best environment for growing-up in, best food, best clothes etc; we provide to our children. But one more thing that we should never forget is that we should teach our children to value the best things that they are getting in life which very few lucky children get. As good and responsible parents, we always strive to give the BEST to our children.The BEST may not always be within our reach, but let us do our BEST and leave GOD to do the rest.