I believe parents can be the most influential people in a child's life. In my life, my parents definitely were and still continue to be. As an adult now that dreams of parenting children one day; I've thought a lot about what parenting philosophies I would like to carry onto my future children. There are many, many things that I believe my parents 'got right'-- but today, I wanted to list the main three.
1. If You Are Following Christ Everything Else Will Fall into Place
My parents raised me in a small Southern Baptist church where I learned the words to every hymn. I was required to go to Sunday school, Sunday worship service, along with Wednesday night children and youth classes. However, going to church two times a week wasn't what taught me everything I learned about God, the Bible, or what it means to follow Christ; my parents instilled these things. My parents saturated everything I did in scripture, worship, and prayer. I was required to memorize scripture from an early age, and I was able to recite Old Testament stories by heart. They taught me about sharing the gospel and what being a missionary truly means. And when they weren't teaching me verbally, they were showing me every day in their own personal walks with Christ. They taught me that spiritual warfare is real, and life doesn't magically get better once you choose to follow Christ. They taught me the importance of putting Christ first in your life and that everything else will fall into place, because He works everything for good for those whom He loves.
2. Daily Affirmations
From the time I started understanding English, my parents were always very positive with their words. Phrases like "I love you," "God loves you," "You are smart," "You are beautiful," "You are helpful" were used so much that they played in my mind like a broken record. Some may think that the overuse of words like these causes them to lose value. On the contrary, they were said so much that I started to believe them. I grew up confident knowing that God and my family loved me, so no matter what went wrong in life-- I always had that to fall back on. While this isn't to say that there weren't times when I thought I was stupid (because Satan is still a liar)-- at the end of the day--I knew that those things weren't true. My mom has a saying that I grew up hearing and now as an adult I continue to take it to heart, she would say, "If you tell yourself or hear something often enough-- you'll eventually start to believe it." My preteen and teenage self rolled eyes when hearing these tired phrases, but I'm so grateful that my teen angst didn't deter my parents from continuing their daily affirmations.
3. Encouraging Passions
My parents never forced me to play sports, learn instruments, or join clubs. If I came to them with an interest, they would try their hardest to find an outlet for me to be able to learn or play said thing. At age twelve, I started becoming interested in photography, videography, blogging, social media, graphic design, web design, and marketing. When I was in middle school, my brother and I would make videos and post them on YouTube. Sometimes we would make up skits. Other times I would film our family vacations. Our parents were always very supportive and encouraging towards our passions-- no matter how bad our acting or video editing skills were. I started a blog and my own photography side hustle at fourteen. At fifteen I started working for a photographer part-time as a graphic designer. Later, I designed countless websites, taught myself some coding, grew in knowledge of marketing, and social media strategies. Through everything, my parents were cheering me on. Now as sit in my office writing social media posts, editing pictures, and designing graphics for a well-known non-profit, I can thank my parents for giving me the opportunity and encouraging me to pursue my passions.
My parents didn't raise me perfectly, but I think they got a few things right.
