Committed Parenting

When you think about it, probably the one thing that our children need most in order to grow up feeling loved, happy, and empowered enough to give of themselves to others is our commitment to them as parents. Our children must know that we have made a commitment to them and we must demonstrate that commitment constantly. When we decide to have a child we take on this commitment. It is the biggest commitment we will ever make. When one of our children is diagnosed with diabetes the commitment, significant enough to begin with, takes on a completely new and demanding aspect. We as parents are responsible for and to our children. We tie ourselves to them, sometimes at considerable cost to ourselves. We are required many times to put our children's needs before our own.

When we show our commitment to our children they feel we value, love and welcome them in our lives. When we don't they feel neglected, abandoned and alone. Think about how loneliness and abandonment affects you as an adult. One of our missions in life should be to never allow our actions to be the reason our precious children ever experience these feelings.

We can demonstrate our commitment to our children in various ways. When we are there to ask our children about school or their day. When we are willing to see things from their point of view. When we oversee and support their daily diabetes management. When we make sure they are clothed and fed properly. When we add privileges as they show us responsibility. When we show them respect and love.

Our children may perceive we are not committed to them for various reasons as well. When we aren't home much to be with them. When we are home but don't appear interested enough to play or talk to them. Separation or divorce, our children don't understand the intricacies of an adult relationship until they grow up. They often feel their parents didn't try hard enough to stay together. When one parent finds a new partner, children may see the transfer of some commitment to the new relationship. This can also cause our children feelings of vulnerability.

If our children feel any reason to doubt our commitment to them they may feel very vulnerable and find it hard to trust or commit themselves to other relationships, as they grow older. To be able to commit yourself to someone you must be willing to give and to lose something of yourself in the process, knowing that you will gain from the other person in the end. If our children haven't experienced our commitment they will defend themselves against more rejection. This will make it very hard for them to give of themselves in the future.

Our greatest fear should be that children who have not grown up in the love and security of committed parents, who haven't developed the ability to give of themselves and share love with others, will one day have children of their own.

Then the cycle will continue, and another child will be raised without the love, feelings of safety and belonging that committed parenting ensures.

About the Author
Russell Turner, USA
info@mychildhasdiabetes.com
http://www.mychildhasdiabetes.com

Russell Turner is the father of a 10 year old diabetic daughter. After she was diagnosed he soon discovered he could find all sorts of medical information on the internet. What he couldn't find was how to prepare his child and family for living with this disease. He started his own website for parents of newly diagnosed diabetic children http://www.mychildhasdiabetes.com

---

An Overview of Alternative Treatments for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Since so many would rather avoid the use of stimulant medications for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder if possible, a growing need for the development... Read More

Helping Your Child Cope With A Long-Term Illness

All children will likely have many different health problems during infancy and childhood: the flu, chicken pox, broken bones, stitches, ear infections, to name a few. For... Read More

Remember The Generation Gap?

The techniques of managing relationships between parents and their children is as old as.. well, parents having children. It's not an easy job, either for the parent... Read More

Advantages of Using a Board Certified Pediatrician

When a child is born, a new number is added to the parental speed dial. When a child wakes his parents up in the middle of the... Read More

Kids and Sports: Fundamentals First

Would you hand a child calculus problems once she was able to count to ten? A geometry text when he began to recognize shapes? War and Peace... Read More

What You Can Learn About Life From Your Children

You can learn a lot from children.The best part of all is the advice is priceless.Walls looked so much better when they are decorated with artwork. Markers... Read More

Theres Never a Bad Time To Start Helping To Spread The Word of God

Q. What's the right age to start giving a Bible quiz to my child?A. The moment that she is able to recognize pictures or symbols. It's never... Read More

Choosing Names For Twins

There are many reasons for treating your twins as individuals rather than a pair. But if you must choose names that go together here are a few... Read More

Parenting Your Teenager: Truth or Lie?

Attention all parents of teen-agers. Here is an important, groundbreaking and even shocking bulletin for you:According to research conducted at the prestigious-sounding Josephson Institute of Ethics in,... Read More

Top Five Ways To Stay In Touch With Your Child

Once your little boy/girl goes off to school, you may find that your "special talks" occur less frequently... You may become disheartened by the mere fact that... Read More

A Little Love, Please?

Article based on a friend's experienceI just wanted to share an experience I just had with my daughters, Yee Ting and Yee Sin.Yee Ting is three years... Read More

Refresher Course on Diapering for Dads

It's among the top criticism wives have of their husbands: He doesn't change diapers!!Reasons dads give: 'My wife does that!" "I don't know how" and "That makes... Read More

Potty Training Caveats- Dont Start Too Soon

The First Reason: For one thing, child development experts are concerned that previous generations of parents were putting too much pressure on their children to potty train... Read More

Late Night Adventures with Your Children

Vacations are fun ! Weekends with the family are nice. But, Late Night Adventures are "simply marvelous". If you really want to shine in your child's eyes... Read More

Grandparents! Help Your Grandkids Do Math!

This may come as a surprise.But despite all the advances in education, many kids still struggle in the math class.Math is an important subject, yet many kids... Read More

Winning The Whining War

Jason Meridith's two-year old son whines when he wants more juice. Brenda Kreuger's eight-year old daughter whines about having to take piano lessons. Connie Gustufson's daughter whines... Read More

Would You Hire This Teacher?

Imagine you were the principal of the school that your child would be attending. Imagine that you were authorized to pick out which teachers to hire.Who would... Read More

?Gimme? Proof Your Kids: How To Keep Your Child?s Materialism In Check

It's the first day of the summer holiday. Five year-old Stephanie is shopping with you at Wal-Mart and picks out three stuffed animals that she saw in... Read More

Medications: Addressing Parental Fears and Concerns

Recently, a parent came to me, conflicted over whether to follow her pediatrician's recommendation of placing her young son on medication. His difficult behaviors had escalated in... Read More

Building Self Confidence

Several similar terms describe the central attribute of a character that decides on the strength of personality and the degree of inner freedom:- "self assurance" describes mostly... Read More

Maximizing Your ADHD Childs Performance in School.

As a parent there are lots of things that you can do to help your child with ADHD succeed in school, with friends, and in life. Here... Read More

Parenting Your Teenager: 7 Tips for Back to School Success

Blink. That's all we did, blink, and summer is ending and a new school year is beginning.Parents have mixed emotions. Relief that the kids are going back... Read More

People of the Century by Dan Rather

Dan Rather made a significant and tactical error and got involved in politics where he should not have gone. I personally and millions of American's lost complete... Read More

Where Will YOUR Kids Get A Job?

Let's face it.The job market is getting tougher every day.Computerization is making many jobs redundant.The Internet and modern telecommunications have allowed companies to outsource jobs to third-world... Read More

Blended Families Can Be Successful

Many families today are blending members from past relationships. It would be easy to give up when faced with all the conflicting methods of parenting and discipline... Read More

Family Meetings Are Now On The Agenda

"Not another meeting!"That tends to be the reaction from many parents when they hear the M word mentioned. Parents tend to associate meetings with the workplace rather... Read More