Parenting

Being a parent to your child or children is very important. My mother did the best she could at a young age being a parent to me and my two siblings alone but the important things did not take place in our household. I love my mother a lot and I appreciate the things that she did for my siblings and I. However, my experiences within my household have made me a great father.

I took my five-year-old son Cordell out to dinner Saturday night and before we were done with dinner a total stranger approached us. She walked over to our table and said “ my friend and I are educators and we want to say that we appreciate that you are spending time 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 alone. It is not important for me to get “props” for being a father because it should be something that is expected but sadly there are so many kids today that do not have their father’s in their lives. I was one of those kids but it has made me a better parent as well.

A child that doesn’t receive the proper parenting may not have the best life and as a parent you want the child to have the best life. There is not one way to parent a child; it all depends on the child that you are parenting. My son is only 5, so I have a long way to go, and I am still learning about how to be a better parent every day. However, I believe the foundation of being a parent starts when a child is first 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 spend time reading to him. We also do a lot of educational activities together. I cannot express how important it is to show your child or children that you love and care for them, it comes along with parenting. If I remember correctly parenting is defined as the care, love, and guidance given by a parent. 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 wrong. Like I mentioned earlier, you cannot parent every child the same way, my method of disciplining my son happened to work for me. 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. There is no one way or right ways of doing it but you have to find your way of doing it and master it.

~Cortez