I am a busy mom to three active boys. You would think that because I am home with them all.the.time I would be an excellent, intentional parent. Meaning that everything I do is with purpose and intent of raising up three Godly men. Well, truth be told. Parenting is hard. Homeschooling or regular schooling. Boys or girls. God has entrusted parents to raise up their children well.
Parenting is an area of my life where I feel the weakest. I am home with the boys all day long. I home school them. I feel like I give them my all. However, the ball has been dropped on more occasions than I care to admit.
Being an intentional parent simply means I am growing toward responding more out of who I am, who God made me out to be, than out of how I feel.
Parenting will take us to the end of ourselves. It will drive us to a place of dependence, of crying out for help of leaning into God for wisdom and strength. We aren’t designed to do this on our own. We need God. I need God to be the mother that I have been called to be to my boys.
The past few weeks, I have been reading, underlining, and applying the principles in the book Intentional Parenting. This book is unlike most parenting books. This book is about you, not just your child.
Regardless of age, parenting requires a certain amount of uncertainty. But you can be certain that your children look to you to help them discover who they are. And you can only offer that to the degree that YOU know who you are.
Intentional Parenting is built around 12 chapters that each dispel some of the most common parenting myths and reminds all parents of truths that can empower them to be not only the parents that their children need but that God has called them to be.
The book helps you discover first who you are and then takes that healthy person into a discovery of being more intentional, playful, consistent, merciful, and connected to your children.
Understanding your child. Understanding you.
I am still reading, highlighting, underlining, and applying these truths and principles in my parenting mis-steps and misadventures. It is one of my favorite new to me parenting books and am sharing with you because I think you would love and benefit from reading it too!
Intentional Parenting: Autopilot Is for Planes
Disclosure: I received this book free from BookLook. No compensation was received and all opinions about this book are my own.
Janice - Fitness Cheerleader says
I was just thinking today about report cards and kids, and then I had a thought: If I was to give myself a grade as a parent it would be a C+, but I bet if I asked my daughters they would give me an A. We’re hardest on ourselves and I bet you’re doing a fantastic job!