10 Ways to be a Perfect Parent

I was watching Oprah the other day and my insides wanted to jump through the TV. I couldn't believe that mom after mom thought she was Superwoman; and a bad super woman at that. Motherhood in the 21st century is hard mostly because we make it hard. We overindulge our children because we live over indulged lives. We have to have everything right now and if we don't the universe is going to open up and swallow us up into the pits of mommy hell. Get real. I have discovered that mommyhood is an extension of our greatest insecurities and those insecurities we pass on to our offspring. The best gift that I can give moms is that our children DO NOT BELONG TO US. They are gifts from God. He has already given them instruction. It is called purpose. Our jobs as moms is to guide them along the journey a

nd give just enough not to take away from who God already made them to be! See was that hard! Let me give you some fool proof tips on being a perfect parent!

1. Quit aspiring to be a perfect parent. Perfection does not exist and those that seek perfection are always happy because they are walking down a never ending corrodor.


2. Don't take yourself so seriously. You can only do what you can do.


3. Stop putting your life in what I call the "Keeping up with the Jone's Marathon". It does not matter what the neighbors have. You are outside looking in and have no idea of what really goes on behind closed doors to make life seem fabulous. If it were up to me each child would have one afterschool activity each per school semester. There is nothing wrong with waiting to try out new experiences. Stop trying to squeeze it all in.


4. Remember that there is nothing new under the sun. If you have done it or thought it their is also a world of others who also have done it. That includes praying and Asking the stork to return and take these little people back where he got them from.


5. Do not parent children as you are. Parent children as they are. Each child is different. Learn to listen to them. Watch them. Let who they are guide the experience. I was a very sensitive child and the mere threat of being in trouble would scare me straight. My sister, however, you could have thrown her from the top of the building and still not have made a dent in that head of hers. It was not necessary to punish me as severely as her, but they did and I resented it. My child loves technology and I love taking it away.


6. Enjoy punishing them. If you did something wrong, you must pay the piper. Discipline teaches children Know that you are doing the right thing. Know that it is in the best interest of producing healthy, giving and and prepared human beings.


7. Enjoy saying NO. None of us gets what we wants and neither should they. Even when we deserve it life has a way of letting you know that fair is not always equal and equal is not always fair. This also teaches children to think outside of the box.


8. Stop crying about what you can't give them. Do you best and that is enough. PERIOD.


9. Stop believing that you can do this job, the way your mother did it. We live in a different time with a different set of responsibilities, like triple the mortgage payments.

10. Stop believing that you can do this job alone. We used to live in communities that included and appreciated extended family. It is time to make extended families where aunts and uncles and grandparents all each play an integral part in raising children. Independent means alone.


11. BONUS.  Enjoy them. Even ten minutes a day spent without giving orders and looking them dead in the eye, smiling as they show you who they are, will make all the difference in the world.  I wish you the best!