The Parenting Journey Continues

                                      My girls- all grown up!

Sometimes it's hard to know whether or not you're doing okay as a parent. Especially nowadays when so much is written on how to properly parent, not to mention the whole thing of children's rights being taken out of context so often. 

That being said, it felt like a pretty good week for this mom as Brian and I were able to spend a morning up at Mt. Angel with Josh Friday plus get to FaceTime with David today. This is on top of getting to go to Mass with the girls and watching Doctor Who with them while enjoying our Sunday brunch. Talking, laughing, and just being together with my kids is such a gift to me- I sometimes forget how blessed I am in my vocation as a wife and mom.

Just when I thought things were going great in the mom department, Mary and I ended up talking about when she was a young teen. She confessed to me that when we were at Salem Alliance she would skip out of youth group on Sunday mornings and sneak to the library as she didn't really feel like she was getting anything out of it. She then said if we hadn't started attending St. Joseph's she would most likely stopped going to church. Since I know first hand what a great middle & high school program SAC has, the only person I can blame for this is me. It took me about 6 years to hear this from my youngest. And here I thought I had the whole communication thing down pat.

As GK Chesterton said, "When we step into the family, by the act of being born, we do step into a world which is incalculable, into a world which has its own strange laws, into a world which could do without us, into a world we have not made. In other words, when we step into the family we step into a fairy-tale.” 

I know numerous young families who are on the first part of the parenting journey. There are so many pieces of advice out there. I could go on and on- just ask my kids, but I will just say this: 

Your job as a parent is to help your children to become God-loving, responsible adults. I've always thought just teaching them to be responsible is enough, but as they've grown, I realize it's also a parent's job to be the one to share with them all about God. This means His love, His goodness, His omniscience, and His omnipresence. It means Bible stories and Veggie Tales when they're little. It means Adventures in Odyssey and getting them to Religious Ed classes when they get a little older. It means making sure they know about their faith enough to want to live it as adults.So I exhort you parents out there to do all you can to help your kids now only draw close to the Lord right now, but to continue as they grow. With the help of the Blessed Trinity, we will all live happily ever after.