Season 8: Episode 85 - Parenting with Heart: The Four Responsibilities of a Parent

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at [email protected]. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at [email protected].    Parenting is the focus of this season on “Living with Heart: From Birth to Death.” Some of the content of the following episodes connects to the book, Parenting with Heart by Stephen James and Chip Dodd.    Parenting with heart is more about the parents than the children: Parents know their own hearts’ feelings and needs. Parents remember the struggles of being a child and the fullness of hope and imagination before “reality” tends to tarnish both hope and imagination. Parents not only perform the great duties of providing and protecting; they are able to remain emotionally relatable. Parents know that they themselves are only older, “growing up” versions of a child.  Parents are emotionally present as they continue to perform the tasks of love. Parents face the reality that the best outcomes and greatest hopes still will be riddled with clumsiness, mistakes, and regrets, but continues to persevere with heart.    Parenting with heart is for young parents and grandparents, “failed” parents and “successful” parents, and couples who desire to be parents, but has nothing to do with the “perfect” parent.    The “perfect” parent checks a list to see if they have fulfilled some magical formula that guarantees “perfect” children who never mess up and never have to face pain.    “Perfect” parents attempt to produce an outcome that is for their own self-images.   Children want parents who can relate to the struggles and joys of being a child; they want parents who know the feelings of living and the needs that come with living.   Children also desire their parents to know how to face, feel, and deal with struggles, as they seek the joys of life.   Children do not actually want a perfect parent; they want a relatable, human parent who takes a long view of life.    It takes a lifetime to learn how to live:  Children need parents who know this truth, and this truth creates great tolerance for a child’s struggles.   A child just simply wants a “good enough” parent, a human parent who needs others and God, the same way a child needs them and God.   Two responsibilities of a parent: Parents need to help their children “climb the mountain of their dreams.” Parents need to help their children “hold the flag brave and true.”   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.