It’s the year 2047. Your Great-Granddaughter is about to have a baby.
What kind of parent will she be?
Will she parent with patience?
Will she parent with purpose?
Will she have a plan for passing down her values?
Will your Great-Granddaughter be a loving, healthy example for her new baby?
The answer to that question depends on what you do today. The adolescent journey can wear you out as a parent. You work all day, you clean your house, you try to figure out how to pay your bills, and then you have to face a progress report from your teenager’s teacher that says they are failing chemistry!
It can be so overwhelming. Let me invite you today to take a step back and think again about your Great-Granddaughter. Imagine her holding her little baby. She will hardly know who you are, but she will also never realize how much you have affected her as a person. You have a direct influence on her little baby, because you are blazing the trails that her parents and grandparents walked. The decisions you make today set the pace for that baby.
You have a choice. You can either let that scare you to death, or you can let that inspire you to grab some perspective. Today, you can refuse to just raise a child, but rather guide them into a young adult.
See yourself today as the patriarch or matriarch that you are. Your influence will last for three or four generations. Will your children and grandchildren be propelled by you into health or will they have to overcome your example to be successful?
What you do today matters. Don’t waste your opportunity to make a difference that lasts for generations. Resist the temptation to give in to the stressful situation in front of your face, and parent with a long-term perspective.
You can do this.
This is so true! Our actions and words today have a real lasting impact for generations. The words we speak over our children and the actions we walk out for them daily shape them into the men and women they will be and how they will be as parents. We also have a bold opportunity as parents to break previous cycles in our families and create new positive and healthy ones!
Jen, I am glad you brought that up. I almost included that in the article, but it is so true. I am a product of parents who said, “this pattern ends with me”. My parents chose to free me up and carve a new path for me to lead my kids on. You can feel pretty powerless as a parent of a teenager, and I was hoping through this article to show that it really is amazing what you guys are doing!!
So so true. Im glad you brought up this topic.
It’s so cool to think that if you are the best parent you can be to your teen, that your grandchildren will also reap the benefits of the kindness and understanding that we are able to give to our teens. I will use this knowledge from now on. Thank you
Your Welcome Wendy! Thanks for the feedback.