Growing Up With Your Kids: The Responsibility that Comes with Parenthood

One of the things that parents think about when they entertain thoughts of having children is whether or not they can actually keep up with the demands of parenting. Although there are some people who do not think twice about procreating, most people think about everything else that comes after the kids are born.

growing up with your kids
Growing up with your kids also entails preparing them for the future and weaning them from your financial support at the right time.

Building a family and raising children is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. To say that it requires tons of commitment and dedication is an understatement. You have to be willing to deal with everything that comes with growing up with your kids. This means addressing all their needs from birth to grave. Yes, your kids will always need you even when they could already stand on their own and have raised their own families. In all these, you have to be willing to give without expecting anything in return. You have to learn when to nurture and when to give them space to make their own decisions. Yet, when dire consequences happen because of bad decisions, you also have to be willing to offer your shoulders to cry on and your wisdom to push them forward.

During the time when they still cannot support themselves, you have to be able to provide for all their expenses. This time is called the critical years when your children are fully dependent on you. Ideally, they should be able to provide for themselves when they get out of school and secure gainful employment. Not all children, however, are able to enter the workforce right away. This makes it really important for you to prepare them early on. Teach them the value of money and earning money the honourable way. Teach them to manage their finances so that they will eventually be able to provide for their needs. Instilling financial discipline is part of the responsibilities of parenthood. Growing up with your kids also entails preparing them for the future and weaning them from your financial support at the right time.

Taking care of your children’s psycho-social needs is also part of growing up with your kids. You have to understand how they think, feel, and act in various situations and given certain challenges. Support them emotionally in everything they are going through without coddling them or overly protecting them. Remember that you are supposed to play the supporting role in your child’s life and not the starring role. Let him experience the ups and downs of life. But, take the time to prepare him physically, emotionally, and mentally for these experiences. When the time comes for you to let go, be generous enough to do so and give your child the gift of going through life with the assurance that you will be there through all his joys as well as all his sorrows.

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Teaching Children the Value of Responsibility

“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Whether you believe the Bible or not, the proverb is a logical one. Even bamboo shoots can be formed in a way you wanted it while it is young. That is why you can see bamboo art while the grass is alive like braided into each other. When it grows old it will be impossible to untangle the braid without breaking the bamboo. Neither can you train it anew when it can no longer be bent.

value of responsibility
Childhood is the best time to teach them the value of responsibility.
Photo Credit: Marcelo Santos / Getty Images

Children are the same. The ages for children to absorb learning is between 2-7 years old. Those are the formative years. Beyond that it will be very difficult, if not at all impossible. Mothers are often known to be as the martyr of the family, doing everything around the house and yet being able to keep the morale and spirits up. Oftentimes she would rather just do things and let her children enjoy their childhood to the maximum. This is where something goes wrong.

Childhood is the best time to teach them the value of responsibility. Teach them how to pick up their toys and store them away after playing. It is reminding them where things ought to be placed because there is a place for everything. It is teaching them how to sweep the floor and clean the table. They start with easy tasks and graduate to doing heavier tasks as they grow older.

The mere picking up of a candy wrapper from the floor and throwing it in the waste bin without being told is a good indication that the child has learned the value of responsibility. As the child grows older into adulthood, with training from home, that child will learn to cope with the world, which is oftentimes fierce than the environment at home. With a good background from childhood, he/she will be able to earn the respect of employers and workers. A child trained with responsibility will be more liked and adored in the future which is where the gate of blessings often opens.