Perfectly Progressing Through Parenthood

 One last item of importance in regards to parenting is one I learned about very recently: grit. Grit is strength, endurance, persevering in the face of challenges and trials, falling and getting back up again and again, understanding that growth comes from everything and never limiting yourself.  Building grit in children takes patience and selective words and actions, but it is well worth it. Grit will carry your child through school, relationships, setbacks, careers, and everything else. One of the biggest ways to help build grit in your child is to help them make effort their friend, and teach them to not be afraid of failure. Praise their efforts, the achievement and how their effort helped it happen. Encourage them to get out of their comfort zone. Let them find their own passion and pursue it. An internet article on "Fine Parent" says "... your child’s ability to work hard, endure struggle, fail, and try again may be the key to determining his or her long-term suc...

 A second thing I learned about parenting is how to parent while being human and experiencing emotion. To be more specific, parenting with anger. Growing up in a very contentious household, this was a foreign concept to me, but one I had been growing more and more insistent upon as I grew older and closer to parenthood. I reasoned that if God was my Father in Heaven and treats me with love despite the mistakes I make, wouldn't He want us to treat our own earthly children the way He treats us? Of course!! " Kind looks, kind actions, kind words, and a lovely, holy deportment towards them, will bind our children to us with bands that cannot easily be broken,· while abuse and unkindness will drive them from us, and break asunder every holy tie, that should bind them to us," said Brigham Young. Acknowledge your negative feelings, your anger, but do not let them drive you. As I stated earlier, I grew up in a home where my parents fought and acted on their anger, both with each ...

  One of the most important things I learned while taking my class on parenting this past semester was something I realized I would really need to be aware of as a parent: agency. It's tempting to tell your children exactly what to do at any given moment, from who they hang out with to how they spend their time at home. However, think about it long term, and you realize something... making every decision for your child now will hinder their ability to choose for themselves in the future. In an article about agency from the Ensign magazine, it says " The earlier we can begin to teach the proper use of agency, the better. Even young children can begin to understand how to evaluate choices and consequences...  we would never allow anything to happen that would harm them either physically or spiritually. But if we constantly protect them from the consequences of poor choices, they will come to expect that kind of protection as a part of life." I've really seen the effects...