A Parent's Prayer

Train up a child in  
the way he should go:
and when he is old,  
he will not depart   
from it. Proverbs 22:6

Oh God,

Please make me a better parent. It is the most important job in the world, and one for which there is no prior training.

Help me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say, and to respond to their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting and contradicting them. Help me to be as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.

Give me the courage to confess my sins against my children and the generosity of spirit to ask them for forgiveness when I know I have done wrong.

Forbid that I should laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule. Oh, Lord, reduce the meanness in me. May I cease to nag. When I am out of sorts, help me, please, to hold my tongue and keep my temper under control.

Blind me to the insignificant shortcomings of my children, and help me see the good things they do. Give me a ready word of honest praise. Make me ever mindful that they need the nurturing that comes with encouragement and appreciation for their small successes.

Help me to remember that my children are only children, so that I may not expect from them the judgment of adults. Allow me not to rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves, to think for themselves, and to make their own mistakes.

Forbid that I should ever punish them as a means of ridding myself of anger and frustration. Help me to exercise reason and control.

May I grant them all the wishes that are sensible, and give me the courage to withhold a privilege when I know it might do them harm.

Make me fair and just, considerate and companionable, so they will have genuine esteem, respect, and affection for me. Make me fit to be loved and imitated by my children, for this is the greatest compliment of all.

~ Author Unknown ~