In current culture, ‘good parent’ is considered something unattainable. Some people call it a myth as if it doesn’t exist. It might be largely because evaluating a good parent with objective measure is highly arguable in many aspects. Does it need to be parent perspective or child’s? Should it measure child’s success or happiness? Sometimes, the discussion just gets concluded that a good parent is who tries his/her best or who consistently works on being a good parent. This vague conclusion, however, is not free of the same problem about measurement.
Nonetheless, it would be tremendously useful to have a clear definition of what a good parent is. It is all of parents’ first time being one and without clear direction, it is so easy to get confused, distracted and lost. Instead as parents, we want to feel grounded, convicted, and understand where we are headed with our precious children.
Our relationship with God is often described as parent-child relationship. He is a good father who is grounded, convicted and always sure of what we need and where we need to go. In this relationship, God looks at our heart, our intention. He is happy when we choose him with our will. He is happy when we are happily worship in his presence, rejoice in truth, honest and vulnerable with him. All great biblical figures had an authentic and raw relationship with God through good and bad times in their lives. These relationships do not focus on achievements, worldly success, or living up to expectations. They do involve enjoying each other’s presence, and learning to stand in the righteous ways, and doing the right things on our end.
I want to deliberate that our parental goal should mimic our relationship with God. That is, to be able to enjoy each other as a company, guide our children to be on the righteous ways and make the right choice based on God’s perspectives. In order to become a good parent with this clear direction in mind, I want to discuss three important aspects in the next few posts.
Reflective and introspective parent
Being able to see from child’s perspective
Model a kind choice whenever possible
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