New Year's Resolution Number 1: Parenting

I. Am. Tired.  So many things to do and so little time as always.  Before I had kids I thought I was busy but now I juggle so much that I now realise that I must have been supremely bored before!

The issue at the forefront of my mind lately has been parenting.  My kids are at such different stages at the moment, but the eldest two are definitely trying very hard to get the better of me these days!  And I am doing my utmost to not lose the plot every 10 minutes... um, seconds! 

There is just so much emphasis on building a good marriage in the church: marriage preparation classes, marriage improvement classes, etc etc.  But one thing I have found lacking is the preparation for parenting.  I was speaking with a friend last night and we both realised we have never been on a parenting course.  Plenty of marriage classes but no parenting.

If we were to adopt, we would have to go through so many procedures to ensure we would be suitable, effective parents.  But bring a child into the world yourself, and you need absolutely no qualifications at all!  What on earth possesses us to think that we could raise a bunch of independent, selfabsorbed, needy, individual humans with no training or advice?  The hormones start racing round your body and you feel the need to procreate, but when that little baby arrives, what do you do with it?

Our first child was born at home and when the midwives left, Matt and I just stared at this baby, wondering what we should do with him.  How did the nappy work again?  Why was he crying? Which way was up?

With parenting it feels the same.  Why is he stamping his feet?  How do I stop his screaming?  Why is he lying down on the aisle floor in the supermarket waving his arms and legs and turning red?  And how can something so small emit such an intensely loud wailing sound?

'Scuze me for just a minute, gotta go wipe a little person's bottom...


Back now.  Sorry I was gone so long, but it turned into not just a bottom wipe, but also a tea-making-cake-decorating-assignment-posting break.  Now where was I?  Oh yes, the ongoing saga in my life: rampaging children. 

I realised a while back that although we prepare very hard for our careers, our marriages and many other things through study, reading etc etc, the majority of mankind do very little in preparing for parenting.  I am sure we all read those books by very stern women on how to feed our babies, how to potty train and what to expect from our toddlers.  What we don't seem to be doing is reading the books on how to raise our children to be responsible adults in the future, or researching how to effectively discipline our kids so they don't rebel with a vengence at 15.

So my first new year's resolution this year was to find a suitable parenting course that would teach me how to correct the mistakes of the past 5 or so years and hopefully improve the fledgling relationships I have with my kids.

Honestly, it didn't take me long.  I soon found a course that seemed to fit me and Matt well in our understanding of life and God's love.  It's Danny and Sheri Silk's Loving Our Kids on Purpose.  It is something I will share with my friends too, cos I know I am not the only one out there fighting to find the right way to raise kids!  I'll definitely post a review once we've worked through it, so check back soon.