How parents can help children flourish

We started the week with a look at dangerous and deep friendships. For this week’s Back to School Boost Guest Post, I’m so glad to share the voice of my friend Christen Price. She is the creative heart behind The ABCs of Praying for Students with her online printing, design, and publishing company in Dothan, Alabama. Today Christen shares out of her mother’s heart about what it takes to help children flourish. Welcome Christen!

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

Helping different children flourish

As a mother of four, I’m learning that each one of my children is uniquely and wonderfully made. Take my twin girls for example: even though my twins look exactly the same on the outside, they have completely different personalities on the inside.

Adeline, the “firstborn,” (I put this in quotation marks because she came out of my stomach a mere two minutes before her sister but she uses those two minutes to claim her oldest child status!) is driven and focused, which helps her take initiative when it comes to her school and co-curricular activities. Her sister, Maralee, is equally talented and gifted but does not have a competitive bone in her body. She enjoys school and sports for reasons geared more toward fostering friendships and for pleasure.

Our girls approach their activities from two completely different points of view, but mine and my husband’s goal for them are the same: we want to develop children who flourish. 

A sound goal for parents

Flourishing is a state where one thrives while humbling acquiring increased influence. Parker Palmer states it this way: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” For our children to flourish, our goal must be to focus on their hearts and how they are intricately made by God to worship Him through their gifts, talents, and abilities. As parents, we aren’t just raising our children to be successful in their careers, but we are raising children to grow into adults who love others well. 

The definition of parenthood takes on many roles: we rear, we raise, and we are role-models to the children God has entrusted us with. To be a parent literally means “to come into existence.” When we are given the responsibility to nurture our children into adults who flourish in not only their careers but their family and communities, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the task at hand. It’s easy to feel like we aren’t prepared and are making a million mistakes a day. How are we to raise our children to flourish when many of us are still figuring out what flourishing looks like for our own lives? 

Sound advice for parents

There are many pieces of scripture that give us sound advice on how to be parents who teach our children how to love the Lord, but one that I find most comforting is Romans 12:12: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Here’s how we can apply this scripture as parents:

Be Joyful in Hope –

As parents, we spend a lot of time examining our children and who they are becoming. Each year, our children are developing and making choices that impact who they are becoming. Some of these choices are difficult for us to walk through with them while other moments bring us such sweet joy. Their spiritual growth journey is a process that they will walk through their entire lives, much like their development. Hope does not disappoint and will come after seasons of hardship. Remember to be joyful in hope as they grow, develop, and make choices. 

Patient in Affliction –

There are many times as a family where we are tired and say things we do not mean. It’s easy for us to get worried and anxious when our children are struggling and we do not know what to do to help them. For us to practice patience during affliction, we can remember that prayer protects when anxiety attacks. 

Faithful in Prayer –

Prayer is an expression of thanks or a request for help. As our children grow up, let us turn to the Lord with gratitude and also for guidance. He will guide their hearts and their heads as they experience new things. When we are faithful in prayer, we are making one of the biggest investments we could ever make in our children’s lives.

Even though my twins approach their days from two completely different personalities, I believe that God has created both of them to flourish. He has designed each of them to draw near to Him and love others in their own unique ways. God is teaching me through their unique personalities how to offer them guidance that fits with who He created them to be. As we come into existence as parents, let us remember that God is also guiding and directing us when we come to Him in prayer for ourselves and our children. He has created us to flourish and to live a life full of joy.

About Christen