Rearing children is a tough task. It is not as simple as getting a job in line with our profession or having a job that needs skills, or sometimes a job we have no knowledge at all and yet we can be trained. Rearing children needs all our prowess, intellect, skill, love and protection, patience, understanding and all that. We have to support the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. It’s not always fun. Sometimes we’ll eat our heart out with the tremendous household chores that we have to attend to plus our little kids to take care of. At times we have to be firm and true to our words or we'll wake up one day, they don’t believe in what we say anymore.
From infancy, we take good care of them so delicately, so careful that we almost consume most of our times for them. Not even the mosquitos could get near and bite as we say. Sleepless nights are negligible, not worrying anymore our eye bags which we were so conscious of before. Not anymore minding our figures. What’s important is we have food in our stomach so we’ll have enough milk for our babies and be happy to breast feed thinking that it is the best we could offer to them.
My husband and I had a good compromise to combat the hardship of waking up at night. We had an agreement that who discovers first if our child’s diaper was wet will be the one to change it. If you’re a good parent, you should be responsible enough to check if your child is wet or not, every time you wake up in the middle of the night. And being good fathers, you have to take part. You should have a good share of the difficulties being incurred by mothers. As it is a fact that mothers have to breast feed babies every time they wake up at night, crying, looking for mama’s nipple. Mothers are just like “7-11 Store”, we are 24 hours open☺. At times that they need medical attention, be ready, or your hearts break. And you will wish you get sick and not your child.
Parents should see to it that infants have a complete vaccination, right starter food after few months, boiled egg, boiled carrots, and potatoes, not junks, not soft drinks, not powder juices. Give a quick bath regularly every day. Sponge bath will do if not feeling well. Hospitals teach mothers how to bathe their babies. If not, ask the veterans, best is your mother. Morning sun is a good source of Vitamin D for 15-20 minutes before eight in the morning to avoid exposure to ultra violet light, but your child should wear a comfortable, light suit. This is so important especially to newly born who has jaundice (baby's skin and whites of the eyes look yellow).
I don’t believe in the saying that a baby who always cries will have a good voice. We are just allowing their tantrums to develop. Babies who always cry have problems that parents should discover. No baby will cry if he is contented, happy and well fed. No baby will feel discomfort if his diaper is dry and clean. If his surrounding is cool, tidy, colorful and peaceful. No baby will be uneasy if he is in good health and is taken care of and loved.
But it doesn’t stop from here. Taking care of them goes throughout in their nursery years, kinder years, elementary, high school and up to college (that’s how we address the level of education in our times, now I’m confused), until they are ready to face the chaos of the world. Even in their teens, where crushes and first love start to grow, parents should give more attention to their children. This is the stage of confusion in love and for being an adult.
As they grow, our kind of discipline should vary too. Parents should also grow with their kids. I was a hands-on and loving mother when they were infants, a patient, and loving mother when they were kinder, a strict and loving mother in their teens, a friend, strict mother in their college and a friend and good consultant in love and in life now that they are matured.
I was the strict kind of a mother back home and my better-half is the cool father image so when the going gets tough, they have someone to run to. We always see to it that we have time to talk to them about topics under the sun. Sometimes we have arguments but things are patched up at once. We don’t yell at each other, We don’t allow that, and shouting when angry is not being tolerated. we also trained them not to let neighbors hear their cries and their angry voices. For us, they're so undignified.
Once a child finishes a career and finds a good job and a good partner, that’s the time that parents are less worried about their children. And when they start to build a family of their own means retirement to our obligation as parents, only that we should still be around if possible to give some bits of advice and service if they so need them. But we must give them space, the chance to be on their own, to uncover what should be uncovered in life in their own way. We should avoid insisting our old school thing as they are in a different generation with a different approach to parenting.
Like what our parents did, let us leave everything to the good Lord. He will take care of them, but let’s continue praying for them. They have angels too assigned by God who will always be at their side. If we have survived, they too will survive.
Weenterella 2017
Photo: Google
Photo: Google
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