Far sighted parenting

I have been attending this really neat bible study for women in the North West Valley here in Phx, which is an ecumenical event.  We meet every Thursday morning for two hours.  One of the best parts is they have a VERY organized childcare for the momma's to drop their children off for two hours.  They are so good with the kids and Joey just loves going to "school" as we like to call it :). 

The first hour we begin with a couple praise and worship songs (last week they sang a Matt Maher song, I felt pretty proud to see him represented, haha).  Anyways, we then listen to a woman who gives a talk/testimony to a few verses from Ephesians.  After the talk, we move to the second hour, which for me is to take a parenting class.  We are reading this book called Parenting by the Book.  I really like it so far.  We have only read chapters 7 and 8, but, my eyes have been opened so far. 

The first chapter discussed Far sighted parenting.  He explained that it is important to decide what qualities and character traits you want to see your child with when they are 30 years old.  Then, every parenting decision we make should be made with those things in mind. 

As I examined my own parenting, I realized that I was doing a lot of things for Joey that I know he could learn to do on his own, such as putting away his toys.  I realized that if I continue to do everything for him, as he grows older, he will become pretty dependent on others to do things for him.  I am sure I would have realized this soon enough, but reading this book at this point in Joseph's life has been extremely helpful.  As far as parenting goes, I am always thinking about the here and the now, never into the future. 

Other things I realized I need to focus on with Joey are manners, teaching him to be patient (I still need work on this), to never give up, to know how to fail, that it is okay to fail at times, but you have to get back up and try again, and most importantly, to desire a relationship with God and to love others.  I know what you are thinking, I have a big task ahead of me.  I also know that these will take a long time to teach him, but I am so excited to try. 

I have been reflecting on myself too and realizing I need to model these traits everyday for him.  I also need to be praying for each of my children every day.  As much as I would like to see them learn all the traits I mentioned above, what I desire most is for them to be happy because they have chosen to follow God's Will in their life.  Parenting is such an adventure and I am so grateful God has blessed me with two beautiful children, and hopefully more one day too!  Here is to a new day, with new parenting challenges and hopefully a lot of sucesses too!