Deserve

A Twist on Parenting

I take part in a writing group called Five Minute Friday. They gave us a one-word writing prompt and have 5 minutes to write on that topic. We post our writing unedited. Here is my writing for this week. The word is: Deserve.

What do my children deserve from my husband and me? As first-time parents, we are often left feeling inadequate, learning as we go. We ask for advice and get the much-loved unsolicited advice but what do our children deserve from us?

We bought the books; we bought the education mobiles and wipe warmer. We did all we could to make our children happy and comfortable, all while seeing through bloodshot eyes and tear-stained glasses.

We had to ask, what do our children deserve? First, we had to realize that they are not ours at all but on loan from God to guide and nurture to adulthood. They are His, not ours. So, as His children, what do they deserve?

We looked to our own childhoods. What was abundant and good and what was lacking? Here is what we discovered. Our children deserved love. Love comes in many forms.

They deserve to be heard. To know that they have a right to be heard as long as they are respectful. Their ideas are important but the parent gets the final say, for now.

They deserve to feel safe. To know they have someone to run to in the middle of the night when their imagination gets the best of them.

They deserve to be fed. To have good food and to be fed by God's Word.

They deserve to learn hard lessons. Discipline puts a child back on the right path. They need to learn the hard lessons while still at home, so the detrimental lessons are few once they are adults.

They deserve an education, in and outside of school.

And most of all, they deserve love in its raw form. To hear us say, "I love you," daily and for us, as parents, to model the love of Christ to them. We model the thanksgiving in knowing what we do not deserve, is given as a gift.