Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Parents who are materially well-off are to be more careful when raising their children. Because in such families where money tends to not be a big concern, the children – since very young – tend to be supplied with whatever they ‘need’ and ‘want’, ie. living a comfortable life with little difficulties and struggles.

eg. When a child sees a bike and says he likes it, some parents may buy it without much consideration.

Or, to cheer a sad child (or a ‘scared’ child who’s rather apprehensive about undergoing a certain something, eg. surgery, exams), some parents may go out and buy (or promise to buy) one of the latest toys or gadgets.

While it is perfectly normal for parents to want to make their children feel happy and ‘loved’, when a child gets almost everything he asks for throughout his childhood (materially), hardly goes through ‘difficulties’ and ‘struggles’, and hardly faces ‘negative consequences’ of his own misbehaviour, the end ‘result’ of such an upbringing and conditioning is most likely: an adult who’ll find it extremely hard to face difficulties, rejections and stress of everyday life.

If a child is used to living a pampered life (eg. ‘must have’ air-con, must dine in ‘good restaurants’ with ‘food that I like’, must buy what I ask), when he grows up and faces problems and inconveniences at school, in the office, and in his family, will he be the kind of person who’ll have the mindset and capability/willingness to ‘accept the reality’, to ‘remain strong’, to ‘survive’, to ‘move forward with determination’, to ‘persevere’ and to ‘fight it through it all right till the end’?

…

Finding the right balance in parenting is never easy. Raising children and equipping them with the ‘necessary tools’ (morally, mentally, spiritually, etc) is also a tough task.

But I guess, if we realise how incapable we are and how important it is to seriously bring our children up, we’ve taken that first important step of being a ‘better parent’, because we’ll then learn to equip ourselves too as we teach and guide our children.

For our case, we know we can never do it ‘alone’, for we need the strength and wisdom from God to be able to to go through each day as parents who’re called to be instrumental in the upbringing of both Anya and Vai.

A tough yet an honourable task.