PARENTING AS A PROCESS

I believe that one of the goals of most parents is to raise children who grow into responsible adults with integrity and strong values, among other things. As the parent it is our job to help them be all they can be. I wonder about how this is going in the current world of GenMe. We push hard for these children to have all the advantages they could possibly need to be successful. They participate in all kinds of programs and teams to work toward this goal of success. Our communities and even our schools at times make the end result more valued than the process. I wonder how we got away from that. I have recently had conversations with numerous families working toward the goal of Eagle Scout. I have always believed this to be the end result of a great deal of hard work on the part of a young man; hard work that demonstrates those very qualities of responsibility, integrity and values. I am not sure if this was always the case but in our current society where Eagle Scout is helpful in the job market and on college applications parents have made it their goal for a son to achieve this rank. I believe that when the goal is more important to the parent that the teenager we have lost the value of the process. I see more and more things that are worth less because of this very reason. We need to value the process as we parent with attention and intention. Tomorrow, more about our role in this. Sherri