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TODAY’S MOST COMMON PARENTING FAILS
(and How to Avoid Them) Bad parenting is easy to fall into, but understanding five common parenting fails can help. These parenting tips show how to be a good parent.
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very parent makes mistakes. That was true when Adam and Eve walked on earth, and it’s still true today. Whether our kids are preschoolers, teenagers or grown-ups, we can all reflect on what we did or didn’t do as parents and wish we’d done things differently. Perhaps we lost our temper, showed favoritism to one child over another or didn’t follow through on our promises. Such common parenting fails have always been around.
Common parenting fails today
Certain parenting fails, however, have become particularly common in our modern culture. “In many ways it’s a lot more challenging raising kids today, compared to a generation ago,” observes clinical psychologist Melissa Westendorf, J.D., Ph.D., cofounder of the Technology Wellness Center. “Things like all the new
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DISCERN
communication and entertainment technologies have made being a mom or dad a very different experience.” Families can now indulge themselves with 24/7 entertainment through home theater systems, streaming services and video game consoles. Emails, text messaging and social media posts keep us distracted. Mass media outlets bombard us with messages that suggest having more things and being physically attractive are essential to happiness. As a society, we’ve come to expect instant gratification and quick fixes, without deferment, hard work or discomfort. Many people see little purpose to life other than to enjoy themselves. To one degree or another, most families have been influenced by these societal changes. It’s impacted how households function, and made moms and dads more susceptible to making particular kinds of parenting blunders.
Christian parenting
Biblically, it’s clear that God takes the role of parents very seriously. Christian parents are to raise children in the “training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). We are to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6), discipline our children in a loving manner (Proverbs 13:24), and provide for their needs (1 Timothy 5:8). While it’s inevitable we’ll make some mistakes, we must try to keep them to a minimum. To do so requires us to be more intentional about how we parent and to recognize what’s going on in society and how it’s affecting our families.
July/August 2020
