If we think of our children as our possessions, we respect them too little! If our paradigm is “I made them so I own them and can try to make them into what I want them to be,” we will fail as parents and will feel a lot of frustration while we are failing.

We don’t own our children! When we act as though we do, we make all kinds of parenting mistakes.

A much better attitude to have is that we have Stewardship over our children. This is a beautiful word because it implies that we love and take full responsibility for our kids, but recognize that they came from God as a sacred charge and that they are equal to us and we need to find out who they are—each unique one—and help them grow into all they can be.

This Stewardship paradigm causes us to respect our children, to view each of them as individuals, and to find joy as well as obligation in the privilege of raising them.

For more insight on Stewardship Parenting:

Podcast Article Book

Controlling parents try to manage all of their children’s actions, thoughts, ambitions, and behavior, to make their decisions for them, and to turn them into their version of what they should be. They often lose their kids or force them to rebel.

Serendipity parents observe and notice who their children really are and recognize and support their unique gifts and attributes; they see teaching moments and find opportunities to ask involving questions and to motivate kids to plan their own lives and make their own choices.

The definition of Serendipity is “A state of mind whereby a person, through awareness and sensitivity, frequently finds something better than that which he or she is seeking.”

Of course, good parents have goals for what they want to teach their children, and to some extent for what they want their children to become, but if we become too obsessed with our wants for our kids, we can become control freaks and do more harm than good.

Instead, if we can train ourselves to be sensitive and aware enough to notice our kids’ unique gifts and potential, we will find ways to help them grow into their own best selves, and we will enjoy this kind of parenting much more than the controlling kind.

For more insight and practical ideas on how to make this shift:

Podcast Book

You may wonder why a tip on dieting or eating right or losing weight is included here on ValuesParenting. The answer is straightforward: The better we take care of ourselves, the better parent we can be, and the better example we set for our children and for our family.

Plus, don’t we all make eating resolutions at the new year?

Well, this year, we want to help you make a resolution that is more than just another diet—one that involves real and spiritual approaches to the control of all appetites, and one that increases your joy even as it decreases your weight.

Take the time to look at the following articles and to listen to the podcast, and if the ideas and approaches appeal to you, take a look at the book The Half Diet Diet.

Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Podcast Book