Parenting Tips: How to Positively Influence Your Child

Inspired by our recent trip to a pottery farm, I remember a beautiful poem I first encountered in a parenting seminar.  Likened to a potter, parents have the influence to mold a young child’s innocent and yielding heart like a piece of living clay.  And the poem goes…

A Parent’s Influence

I took a piece of plastic clay

And idly fashioned it one day;

And as my fingers pressed it still,

It moved and yielded at my will.

I came again when days were past,
The form I gave it still it bore,
And as my fingers pressed it still,

I could change that form no more.

I took a piece of living clay,
And gently formed it day by day,
And molded with my power and art,
A young child's soft and yielding heart.
I came again when days were gone;
It was a man I looked upon,
He still that early impress bore,
And I could change it never more.

- Author Unknown

Dr. Seuss - The Book Benefits and the Musical

Courtesy of Repertory Philippines

Don’t you just love the classic Dr. Seuss books?  My children and I do.  We have a collection of these all-time children’s favorite classic books by Mr. Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss.  The nonsense rhymes and repetitive words combine sentences that just make the tongue roll off, not to mention the use of some weird-looking characters and weird-sounding names, are the unique mark of Dr. Seuss that both adults and children alike love.  But do you know that reading Dr. Seuss books also provide some substantial benefits in developing your child’s language skills?

Releasing Our Children Into God's Hands

I mentioned in my previous post that our two little angels are products of an answered prayer.  After five years of marriage and waiting patiently in prayer and expectation, God, in His perfect time, granted the desire of our hearts to have children of our own.  Even though it was difficult and high risk for me to get pregnant, God did not only bless us with one child, but two – a girl and a boy!

When our first child was born, I was so concerned about everything in her life.  I wanted to give her the best care and did not want to put her life in jeopardy that we even sought the service of a private-duty nurse to help me take care of my newborn baby as I recuperate from cesarean operation and recover from eclampsia.  And even when she was growing up as a baby, I was still too concerned with a lot of things in her life that all my strength and efforts were exerted much for her and that my life practically evolved around her.  Not until my husband and I dedicated her to the Lord through a simple ceremony in December 2005…My husband and I learned that dedicating our child to God is not just offering her back to her God and Maker, but part of it is releasing her into God’s hands.  I know that we, as parents, are merely God’s stewards and that our children are not ours, but His.  So from that point on, whenever I had fear about anything, I take it upon myself to immediately pray and trust God.

Becoming a Praying Parent

I remember what our pastor always reminds his church, and that is to develop a consistent prayer life.  That’s my heart’s desire, too - to be more consistent in my prayer life.  And in praying, we do not only pray for ourselves but for others as well.  And one of the most important aspects of our prayer life is praying for our loved ones, especially the ones whom we deal with, take care of and minister to everyday – our children.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my favorite books by Stormie Omartian entitled “The Power of a Praying Parent” that I want to share to you this week. 

It gives me so much hope and encouragement to know that our children’s lives don’t ever have to be left to chance and be tossed and turned by the winds of change.  Instead, we can always turn to the expert parent of all time – our Father God – for help.  This doesn’t mean, though, that we would be abdicating all the responsibility of parenthood to God, but rather we can declare ourselves to be in full partnership with Him.  An important part of our job as parents is to keep the details of our child’s life covered in prayer.