Being a parent to my child is very important. My mother was a single mom. She did the best she could as a young parent to me and my two siblings, but the important things did not take place in our household. I love my mother and I appreciate the things that she did for my siblings and me and I believe it was my experiences within my household that have made me a great father.
I took my six-year-old son Cordell out to dinner Saturday night. Before we were done with dinner, a total stranger approached our table. “My friend and I are educators and we want to say that we appreciate that you are spending time alone with your son–it is very important.” I responded with “thank you” and it felt good to have someone recognize my son and I spending time together. It is not important for me to get “props” for being a father because it should be something that is expected. Sadly there are many kids today that do not have their father’s in their lives. I was one of those kids.
A child that doesn’t receive the proper parenting may not have the best life and as a parent you want your child to have the best life. There is not one perfect way to parent a child; it all depends on the child.
My son is only 6, so I have a long way to go, and I am still learning how to be a better parent every day. I believe the foundation of parenting starts when a child is born and it never ends even when they become adults. I created a structure for my son that has been the same for years and it seems to be very affective. We eat our meals together, we talk about how our days were, we do planned activities weekly, and I read to him. We also do a lot of educational activities together.
I cannot express how I’ve learned how important it is to show my child that I love and care for him. If I remember correctly, parenting is defined as the care, love, and guidance. Children have their slip-ups, which require some type of discipline. I chose early not to discipline my son physically; I chose the method of taking what he likes the most away from him, and explaining to him why it is not okay to do whatever he did. Like I mentioned earlier, you cannot parent every child the same way, my method of disciplining my son happens to work for us. I can give my son that look that he is familiar with and he gets back in line.
I can go on and on about parenting and the importance of it. I recommend that you find your best, most effective way of teaching your kids and master it.
~Cortez
