i've been thinking: parenting

yep! I've been at it again ... thinking, pondering, wondering, supposing.

It all comes from having my parents to stay last month.

I don't really want to go into what kind of parents they were to me, but they weren't great.

It all made me think about what kind of parent I want to be, and also what is really required of us to be the best parent we can be.

I came up with two words that I think encompass what it means to be a parent.

What is required of us?

nurture & protection

At least, that's what I think anyhow. These two words encompass everything good and everything my parents didn't do for me. I don't mean (by nurture & protection) that you stunt your children by not allowing them to become independent. You allow your children to become independant by being relevant to appropriate age and development. By simplifying my parenting style, I feel like it's not such a hard thing to be a good parent. It has empowered me to love my children for who they are where they are. They are not some label to be worked out by reading a book. I get to read them myself, as individuals. They really are gorgeous girls, who have so much neatness about them!

I think that the biggest mistake my parents made with me was that they never really wanted to KNOW me. They didn't bother to find out who I was, to unravel the real me.

hmmmmm!