A Parent's Goal

<p>Good morning, Five Minute Families. So glad you are with us this morning. We are discussing parenting for a second week.</p><p>Tying into the parenting behaviors and attitudes last week is a parenting analogy presented by Dr. Robert Kellemen. Each parent drew a dot on their notes. Next, around the dot, we drew a circle fairly close. Then, a second circle a bit further away. Then, another and another. And, finally, a circle as far as from the dot as our paper allowed. This is an illustration of our God-given goals as parents. Our child is the dot and the circles are us administering consequences for their choices throughout our parenting years - good or bad.</p><p>Proverbs 22:6 gives us the general guideline: "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." We must remember that this is not a promise with specific, parent-driven outcomes. This is a guideline we must follow to give our kiddos the best chance to have a life of purpose, love, and beauty.</p><p>Ellen Galinsky wrote about six stages of parenting with each stage’s goals. Her first stage involves preparation before baby comes, so we will only discuss the other five while keeping the Kellemen dot/circle illustration in mind.</p><p>1. The closest circle comes when our children are babies. We nurture them, helping them adapt into our family. Some families will have nurseries in another area of the house and some parents will have baby's bassinet in their bedroom. No matter which room the child is in, the parents will meet his or her needs, teaching them that their cries, coos, and giggles bring responses from the ones who love them most.</p><p>2. Yet, we will not always respond to every sound our little one makes. The circle moves out a bit. Our child still needs to knows there are responses to their actions, but our kiddo will begin to make some choices without our hovering. Thus, we will bring in rules to help effectively guide our toddlers and preschoolers. The circle still needs to be fairly close because th