HN-WK42: Raising Kids

Photo by Agung Pandit Wiguna:

There's nothing greater when it comes to raising a child than doing that with love in a family where love abounds.

In my years of being around people and meeting people, from what I've seen and experienced, Even from how I have heard people talk about how they were raised, I can boldly beat my chest and say that my parents did their best to raise me and my siblings with love. It was so surplus that in my personal life today, I try as much as I can to give out a little bit of that love to anybody I get in contact with. And that's one part of my upbringing that I'll definitely love to reciprocate for my kids.

I have always told myself that.

From experience, I can tell the difference between me and my siblings, who were raised in love, and a few other people raised inhomes different or opposite from how I was raised.

In all my lifetime as a kid, I never saw my mom or dad arguing before us kids. Never did I see my parents fight before us. I always thought they were saints and never fought. Not until I became an adult and got to understand that they actually do fight, but they were careful not to do that before their kids.

My parents also did their best to avoid using harsh words on us. They barely curse at us when we do wrong. It's not like they don't punish us; they do. But you can hear my parents calling us names because they're punishing us or because we did something wrong.

Also, the best part was raising us in the way of the Lord. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have become if I wasn't raised to know God in spirit and in truth. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever have made it this far without God.

So these are the things I've promised myself to reciprocate when raising my own kids. My parents never divorced, so I'm trying my best to make the best choice when it comes to marriage so that both my wife and I will still be together till the day we give out our kids hands in marriage and till our last breath.

As we all know, whatever has a sweet part must have a bitter one too. Yes, I came from a loving family, but my dad packed that ability to tell a kid which of the careers he or she had to choose from. My dad is among those cliques that believe that “my child will be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc.”.

Growing up, I loved anything that had to do with entertainment and art. Be it music, acting, drawing, or writing, I loved them so much that I had my own music book where I wrote my own lyrics to songs I made myself, a story book for stories I wrote, and an album of stuff I drew. But of course, Dad said that music is for wayward people, and artists ended up not doing so well in life.

I remember him telling me that he wouldn't waste so much on my school fees for me to be working only with pencils, drawing boards, and paper. Along the line, his inability to love what I wanted to become killed my dreams for the stuff I did love doing with all my heart.

So I'm promising my kids today that I'll be that father who supports them in whatever field or career they choose in life.