Parenting

For as long as I can remember I have thought about having my own kids and what things will work with them. I can remember when I was 11-12 years old checking out books from the library about working with children. Then I would take them and read them and copy them at my dad's office. I would put them into folders so that I could keep them and use them when I had children.

Now that I am married and the possibility of having children is quite real now I still have that passion for children. I love learning about children and what things will work with them. My greatest desire for as long as I can remember is to be a good mother. Except, now that being a parent is so close to reality I am terrified--a feeling I don't really remember having when I was younger. Of course, we always doubt our abilities to perform and for me I worry about my qualities and what things I will teach my children. I still have that deep desire to be a mother. I feel like a lot of the things I have been through in my life so far have helped me gain the qualities and knowledge I needed to be a mother and to help my future children.

I love learning in my classes different strategies and ideas to help discipline children and how we can really master the idea of parenthood--to teach our children to become independent and worthy. In another class I am taking we have discussed that parenthood is an apprenticeship to Godhood. It is how we learn to become like God because he is our Heavenly Father and we are all His children therefore we must learn what it is like to be a parent. This ultimately teaches us to become like God. When you think of parenting in this way I think it changes your perspective about it. It helps us to want to raise our children in the way Heavenly Father raises us and teaches us. It also helps us to build our character so that we can become like God. What an incredible blessing HF has given us!