Stress and Raising Children

To the best of my knowledge, no such university of parenthood exists.  Do you know of any profession that places you in the position before being adequately trained for it?  What would it be like if doctors, electricians, plumbers, lawyers, nurses, mechanics carpenters, etc. were asked to do their jobs without proper training? 

As you can imagine, mistakes are bound to occur.  So it is with parenthood.  Raising children with stress is often caused by our own parenting mistakes.  But don’t despair!  Mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow.  If you, as a parent with stressful children, are open to recognizing mistakes, acknowledging them, and seeking guidance in both the spiritual and physical realms, then life lessons can be learned that can help you, your children, and the entire planet.

Parenting and raising children is a practice.  It is a discipline, just as any profession is.  It is a profession in every sense of the word, the importance of which has been greatly diminished in our modern, technological world.  Rearing children without experiencing stress requires experience and practice.  You cannot simply expect to attend a lecture or seminar, or read a book, or many books, and be deemed an expert.  Would you feel that your physician was an expert in heart surgery if he read books, attended seminars, and knew everything there was to know about heart disease, but never actually performed surgery?  Would you feel confident letting him operate on you or a loved one?  Yet, as parents, we “operate” each and every day without experience.
 
The idea of a "University of Parenthood" is long overdue. Knowledge provided by such a concept, coupled with the day to day experience of being a parent, can provide the necessary guidance for effective parenting. Stress and raising children is one of the areas of parenting that we really need to learn.