We Get To Choose...Do We Choose Okay Or Effective Parenting?

as parents we choose what is best for our children...how do we know what is best? many times we just go with our gut instinct. if it feels right and it's effective we may feel victorious...until the next time. then it's the same doubt and fear, with us asking ourselves are we doing the right thing.

so much of parenting is based on intuition, but that is not a bad thing. just the same way something feels right, there are things that will feel very wrong and we don't let our children do them. the most important thing to remember is that we are only human and we are going to make mistakes. it's all a learning process, and the bigger the mistake the bigger the lesson. unfortunately babies don't come with parenting manuals. even if they did, would we really take the time to read them thoroughly? we don't read directions for operating things, or putting items together that we have purchased. so why would we read a manual for a baby which comes already pre-assembled?

we must have a license to fish, to drive a car, to do people's taxes, to practice law, to cut someone's hair, and even to carry a gun, but for the most important job in the world, that of parenting, we need nothing more than the desire to do it.

most importantly we decide how we are going to parent. the baby doesn't have a choice of who parents them. so if we choose to be a parent shouldn't we choose effective parenting over okay parenting? we don't receive just "okay" babies...we get true living, breathing miracles. when we have been trusted with that kind of responsibilty, don't we owe it to our children to be the best possible parent we can be by choosing to be effective parents not just okay parents? think about it...