2011-10-12
Purpose of Parents
On occasion, a parent finds themselves in a situation where children must be taken care of without the help of the other parent. Sickness, family visits, work, etc... are common reasons. This time at home certainly is different as each spouse does not serve the exact same role as the other. Parents are not redundant or interchangeable in a family structure, they are complementary. The way a father runs a house is different that the way a mother runs the house, God has intended it this way for a reason.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Interesting thesis. I believe what you're getting at is a sense of balance. In my house, my wife is very right-brained and the embodiment of the mom being the heart of the family: warm, nurturing, and unconditionally loving. This would be a fault if she were a single mom; while children certainly need nurturing and loving regardless of the trouble they cause/get into, they still need order, discipline, and expectations and goals set for them to achieve... something which comes natural to a left-brain dominated man who is their dad (and is a former military man and computer programmer... how much more left-brained can you get?).
Can my wife manage with the kids for a month without me? Sure... but she will be stressed because it's both her nature and the kids know they can get away with more. Could I manage with the kids for a month without my wife (and without causing irreparable damage to them by going Captain von Trapp on them)? Certainly... but in both cases there is a question of balance. I don't want my wife to try to see things through my eyes and be a proxy dad to them; I don't want to get in touch with my non-existent inner woman and try to be a contorted image of ersatz-mom in a metrosexual shell. My kids need both their mom and their dad -- and the unique parenting abilities we both bring to the equation -- to grow up balanced, loved, disciplined, and motivated.
It's a tragedy that so many in this world today have to try to raise a family alone. That's not the way it's supposed to be.
Post a Comment