A Most Amazing Relationship
Monday, February 2nd, 2009This article may not be exactly what you would expect to find during February, the month of hearts, flowers and romance…BUT it is about relationships just the same. This is about one of the most important relationships you may ever be lucky enough to have; the relationship with your child.
(Wait! Before you think this doesn’t apply to you because you don’t have children, consider this: chances are very good that at at some point you were yourself a child, and maybe you are even feeling a notion to throw some loving attention to your inner child, or maybe to someone else who may be acting like a child. In any case, please…read on.)—ed.
I have been a parent educator for 12 years and a parent for 20. I love my work because it is an honor to work with families on such critical relationships; the ones between parents & kids. These are the first relationships we have when we are born and the ones that set the stage for all that follow.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are no guarantees that if a parent-child relationship is steeped in love, encouragement, and mutual respect, that all future relationships will be healthy. Nor can I say that if those relationships are critical, controlling, and disrespectful , that all future relationships are doomed. But I can safely say that those early, parent-child alliances do influence children and the kind of relationships they will have in the future. Although this thought is tempered by the fact that:
It is not “what happens to you” that determines the direction of your life; it’s what you decide about “what happens to you” that makes all of the difference.
I offer that thought in the spirit of hope and optimism for any of us who may not have been raised by Ward & June Cleaver. And also with a prayer for some much needed peace for all the parents out there who have poured their hearts & souls into raising their children only to be living through some challenging times with those same children.
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