Parents' Prayer

My sweet little Evan received his first time out today. I haven't known exactly what age was the right age to start the time outs, but today when he acted out, he could have been seriously hurt (luckily he wasn't). So, I decided it called for a time out. Making him stay in time out was harder on me than it was on him, I think. I'm still a little wound up about the whole thing, so I'm burning energy by cleaning. I came across this prayer that Bryan and I received in our birthing class before our sweet little angel was born. Finding it today was a nice ending to our hectic day. So, I thought I'd share it.

Dear God,

Help us to be better parents.

Teach us to understand our children, to listen patiently to what they have to say and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep us from interrupting them or contradicting them. Make us as courteous to them as we want them to be to us.

Help us never to punish them for our own selfish satisfaction or to show our power. Let us not tempt our children to lie or steal. And guide us daily that we may demonstrate by all we say and do that honesty produces happiness.

When we are out of sorts, help us to hold our tongues. May we ever be mindful that our children are children and we should not expect them to act like adults.

Help us never to rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions. Bless us with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges we know will do them harm.

Make us fair, just and kind parents. We pray for calmness, poise and self-control, and fit us to be loved, respected and imitated by our children.

Author Unknown