Coming Back...and a request.

Dear Readers,

After a short absence, I am back!  I’ve missed you and want to thank those of you who’ve hung on and continued to add great comments in my absence.  I have a pile of questions waiting for me and I’ll answer them one by one. 

           

I’m determined to keep this blog alive because, well, I love it.  I love that we are all trying together to be better parents, to love more purely and to connect more fully with our children.  That’s a big challenge, I know, and it takes all the encouragement we can get.   

             

My favorite aspect of parenting is the one I just mentioned—the forging of bonds.  As I’ve often told you, parenting for me reached a whole new level of fulfillment and excitement when I began to focus less on forced outcomes which required a rather heavy-handed approach.  The goal, instead, became the building of conscience and that happened for me as I changed my focus to loving and teaching—communicating my love while making sure that my expectations were clear and doable.

 

There are many, many methods of parenting out there.   That’s why I’m impressed that you’re still here!  This isn’t the easiest way.   Lasting results come slowly.  Grandparents raise their eyebrows.  Husbands resist.  But the thing that makes you persevere is success—small daily successes.   I want to hear about them.  I want you to be able to read one another’s success stories and be encouraged by them.  If you have a story, large or small in which a child has really responded to his/her conscience rather than force, tell us about it.  Tell us how it came about.   Send your success stories and we’ll post them here—with or without your name.  (askingjane at gmail dot com).

  

My plan is to write you a letter every Monday (we all need a little nudge forward on Mondays, right?)  and then to answer questions as I have time.  My reward will be your success stories!

I send all my love to you.  Remember Alma 36, “ by small and simple things are great things brought to pass”   I know there is nothing small or simple about your responsibilities.  But everything you are doing has meaning—every little act.   Remember that great analogy by Elder David Bednar about the little brush strokes.  They all add up to beauty--your little touches, moments of eye contact, stories read, cookies baked, laundry folded, legos picked up (again).  Your presence means security.  You are the sun—the center of their world   A lot of responsibility, I know—but a warm place to be.

Have a great week.  I’m glad to be with you again.

With Love,

Jane