Parenting class
Spiritual Resources for Real-Life Parenting (or, How to love your kids without killing them)
1. Born for Love
Children are unique individuals created (as the book of Genesis says) in “the image of God.” This concept is rich and diverse, including many profound insights, but none is more important for understanding our task as parents than this: Children are born to love and to be loved! The parent is the first encounter the child will have with another human being, the first relationship, the first friend, the first source of love. The parent will show the child love and will show the child how to love others! What might parental love look like for children at various stages? What emotional and spiritual resources do parents need to love children well? How can we be intentional about preparing our children to receive love and to love others well?
2. The Goal of Parenting
Much of what we do as parents becomes about managing time and modifying behavior. Most of the time we’re just trying to keep the kids alive and out of jail (time out, detention, etc). But what is a parent supposed to be doing? What’s the goal? What do we hope to accomplish in the lives of our children? We’ll talk about some various answers to this question and look at ways to keep ourselves on track towards the goal.
3. Echoes of Childhood
All parents were once children, and our experiences as children color the way we view our children, the way we view our role as parents and the ways we attempt to avoid the mistakes of our own parents. Ironically, we find ourselves stepping into the same patterns we are probably trying to avoid. We will discuss ways parents can draw on the positives of their own childhood experiences (and there are always some positives!) while learning from the challenges. We will seek to become more intentionally aware of the way our past influences our children’s future.
4. Grace & Discipline
Discipline continues to be a big issue for parents. How do we discipline our children? Why do we discipline them? What happens when our discipline doesn’t seem to be working? Are there solutions other than the polar opposites of parent as harsh disciplinarian and parent as spineless noodle?
5. Spiritual Guidance
How do we go one step beyond discipline and move towards character & spiritual formation in our children? How can we help our children to discover their values and explore their beliefs without either force feeding them our beliefs or abandoning them to fend for themselves in a world of sometimes dangerous ideas? What do our kids want from us? And what do they need?
6. Courage for the Journey
Ok, now what if we examine our parenting track record and find we’ve got some work to do? What if we’re failing miserably or, more likely, we’re frustrated and tired? We’ll discuss ways to be encouraged, and to find courage for the long haul, even when the immediate situation looks less than ideal. We’ll find that while the task calls for continued vigilance and effort, there is abundant reason for hope as parents!