Search
Close this search box.

Share what kind of mom you are!

Get to know other mom types!

What Really Matters in Parenting

I recently visited Washington, D.C. and ate the most delicious cupcake I’ve ever had in my entire life. Not only did it taste amazing, but it was also cleverly wrapped. Later, as I wondered about what made that cupcake such a standout, I concluded that the baker must have figured out just the right ratio of the essential ingredients. For cupcakes, he’s definitely grasped what really matters and it has led to something very tasty!

So what are the essential ingredients in parenting? What really matters? There are three, and if we can include these elements in most of our parenting, we’ll make huge strides in getting this mom thing right. It can be tricky to get the right ratio, but just like baking that cupcake, it can be done. Here’s what matters most in parenting.

Wisdom

The ingredient we must mix in throughout our parenting is wisdom. But to exercise wisdom means we must be wise. To become wise, we have to base our beliefs on something worthy of guiding us. For me, it’s my faith. As I compare my parenting and the way I live my life to God’s standards, I can be pretty clear on whether I’m acting wisely or not. Of course, parenting experience will add to our wisdom too. A wise mom learns from her successes and her failures.

So how does wisdom show up in concrete ways? It’s in how we speak to our children, how we discipline our children, and how we guide our children. And the way we live our lives—wisely or not—will impact our children’s abilities to make wise choices because they are watching us. If we make wise decisions, they’ll have a pattern for making wise decisions. We are their real-life instructional videos for how to function in this world.

Kindness

If wisdom is the actual cake of parenting, kindness is the icing. Kindness is what softens and sweetens our wise instruction. Kindness is what draws our children to us. Unkindness will turn them away from us and from whatever wisdom we’re trying to impart.

Kindness is evident in our patience with our children, and in our apologies when we are impatient. It is seen when we discipline with firmness instead of harshness. It is having expectations in line with the ages and abilities of our children.

Love

You probably knew this was coming. Love is the wrapper that holds the cupcake of wisdom and the icing of kindness together. If our kindness and our wisdom are encompassed by a wrapper of love, we will have the essentials of what really matters in parenting.

And love isn’t just the feelings we have for our children; it’s what motivates us to do all we do as moms and to do it cheerfully. Love is what helps us sacrifice and continually make the choices that are best for our families. Our children’s futures will be better and more secure if we focus on them more than on our screens or anything else that distracts us from what’s most important. And what’s most important is to give our children a stable, peaceful home because children get only one chance at a happy childhood. Even though love is the essential motivation for what really matters in parenting, without wisdom, love can actually lead us to make some pretty poor decisions. For example, love without wisdom leads us to give our children what makes them happy, even if it’s not best.

Our children's futures will be better and more secure if we focus on them more than on our screens or anything else that distracts us from what's most important. Click To Tweet

What about you? What really matters in parenting in your life?

ASK YOUR CHILD...

How do you show kindness to others?

Get daily motherhood

ideas, insight, &inspiration

to your inbox!

Search