Being an Involved Parent – Don’t Be Too Inactive

Posted on Aug 30 2021 - 9:09pm by Rena

Parenting is such an amazing and beautiful experience. I am so grateful that I have been blessed to have been a parent for the last 18 years. When I think about all of the wonderful things I have been given, I am filled with pride. But being a parent isn’t always easy. As a child, I learned that parenting isn’t always easy.

Now as an adult, I know that parenting is no picnic. There are plenty of bumps in the road. Being involved in parenting your kids can be a true blessing and also a huge challenge. You will face trials, frustrations, heartaches, disappointments and all sorts of things just trying to keep the family together and heading in the right direction.

If you are like me and think that parenting should be an easy ride, you are dead wrong. Parenting is tough. I have seen so many parents that think that because they are “good parents,” their kids will be fine. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Parenting is a full time job and there is no way around it.

Parenting is so much work. I’m not even going to try to paint it any better. Parenting is hard and is not for everyone. The only way that I could ever understand it to be is by actually being a parent. I have seen my parents be involved in so many things; parenting is not one of them.

So, how can you get involved in parenting? The best advice that I can give you is to sit down and talk with your kids. Kids are very willing to talk and I promise you that they will, at the very least, listen to you. Be prepared for a long time to come.

Be willing to learn as well. Parenting is not about just making the kids get through their school years. It’s about being involved in the children’s lives and making sure that they will have successful relationships with their peers and adults in the future. You just can’t avoid parenting.

My kids are still in high school so I have to stay on top of them and keep them from doing bad things. I’m still teaching them right from wrong and I have to do it constantly. Also, for the sake of my sanity, I have discovered that doing something productive like volunteering at the local YMCA and providing youth basketball training to kids can be really helpful. It allows me to keep my mental soundness because there are still days when I feel like a failure as a parent. I just learn to grin and bear it.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I learned that my mother didn’t think that I should be parenting without her. She knew that she needed to step back and let me know when I was doing something wrong. My siblings and I are lucky that we have such great parents who encourage us when we are being dummies. If we didn’t have that support then we would not be nearly as stable or as well adjusted as we are right now.

Being involved is so hard and there is no way around that. However, if you really want to have successful kids, you need to get actively involved. I’m not saying sit back and watch TV all day. That’s not what this article is about.