Eight Things Great Parents Do: #5 – #8

In the previous post, I stated that I would tell you about eight things great parents do. In actuality, I only shared four of the things eight things great parents do. In this post, I will be sharing things five through eight.

While I’m thinking about sharing, I just want to check to make sure that you were also in the mood to share and weren’t keeping the eight things a secret. What I’m about to share with you is some good stuff. This stuff is so good that the bots reminded me that the future of the universe – much less parenting as we know it – depends on your kindness and willingness to share with others.   

Four + Four Equals Eight Things Great Parents Do

The following are the second four of the eight things great parents do. Enjoy, like, tweet, share and by all means let me know what you think of these tips by leaving a comment below.

Raise With End In Mind – There is an expression many people are familiar with that goes “Begin With the End in Mind”. Well let me introduce you to a similar phrase that should be a part of every parent’s lexicon – “Raise With the End In Mind”. Raising With the End in Mind means once parents decide to have a child, parents must develop a clear vision statement for who their child will be.

I don’t mean giving your child a ball of some sort and simply saying that they will be an athlete or entertainer. That’s not Raising With the End In Mind. Almost every child will tell you at some point in their life that they plan to be the next star athlete, entertainer, etc. Raising With the End in Mind means parents have to take the initiative to formalize a definitive plan of action about what they would want to appear on their child’s tombstone.

The words parents want on their child’s tombstone must be the guiding principles that they will carry out throughout a child’s life without failure or apology and directives that parents will perform expediently, deliberately and precisely.

Most parents will not have a child who will be a professional athlete or entertainer, but all parents are capable of raising a quality human being – one who will care genuinely about others and one who will strive to make the world a better place than when they arrived. That’s what I call a good place to start Raising With the End in Mind.

Positive People – Have a conversation with, listen to or read about anyone who has ever achieved anything of value or overcome some challenge and you will undoubtedly notice that this person has an optimistic outlook. Chances are you will or have found this person captivating and inspiring. Yet, so often parents, discourage their children from embracing and applying this type of anything can happen optimism to their life.

The world children live in today can be cold, lonely, dark and discouraging. There are so many naysayers waiting to pounce on them and tell them what they aren’t now and what they can never be. Parents must make certain that one naysayer in particularly is forbidden from attempting to pounce in and tell children what’s not possible – a child’s own psyche.

It is imperative if parents are to raise successful children that parents stress the importance of staying positive. Positive thinking is not a mystical believe that simply declaring something will make it so. Positive thinking requires that we first believe and then we commit the requisite time, attention and action to our thoughts. Positive thinking is like the scripture I learned as a child “Faith without works is dead”. Make sure your child knows what I didn’t always recognize as a child – positive thinking comes before and in addition to action.

Give to Receive – I’m not going to make this post a reflection of my childhood. However there is another scripture that I believe parents can apply to raising great children. The scripture I’m referencing goes something like “Give, and it shall be given unto you”.

Discouragingly today, lots of parents who are raising children in our culture of instant gratification find it a trifle to consider the incontrovertible truth and value in the doctrine. Consequently, every child who is not taught the scientific and mathematical logic of this rule will undoubtedly experience a life with little substantive satisfaction and one with few lasting rewards.

Receiving and giving both require the same action – opening of the hand – and the use of the same hand muscles. As such, parents might as well raise children who understand and are encouraged to do both – give and receive. If our children can’t follow this simple principle, how then can we expect the world to be any better than it is presently?

Lift As They Climb – The globalization of our world economy and the dog eat dog nature of our American society have made it easy for many parents to raise children who are self-absorbed. I want to believe that this flawed parenting philosophy has been implemented unconsciously rather than intentionally. However, the longer I ponder this issue, the less I’m sure that my hopefulness has any merit.

More now than ever, parents are allowing outside forces and unfounded paranoia to keep from recalling and sharing with children the most important of all societal directives. UPLIFT– as the Men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity once shared with me – is the societal directive that has allowed humankind to progress from the very beginning and it will be similarly required if humankind is to continue to rise to reach new and previously unimaginable heights.

Parents must stop raising children who believe that a person can be an island unto themselves. No one can be an island unto themselves. We all need (the right) person or (the right) people to make life’s journey better, simpler, meaningful, satisfying and more successful.

If you aren’t yet convinced, I was going to suggest that you get dropped off on an island by yourself and then reporting back several months later about your experience. But on second thought, why don’t you just rent and watch the 2000 classic Cast Away with your child.

Watching Tom Hanks in Cast Away is cheaper than the cost of the flight to a deserted island. Plus, selfishly, it guarantees that you won’t somehow get stranded on my island.

Now you have all eight. Eight things great parents do. In the illustrious words of Bugs Bunny, “That’s all folks“.

http://youtu.be/l-ceg763Voc

Are you doing all eight? Are there things that you would change?