Are you the parent you hoped you would be?

Things turned out differently for me. I too thought I knew exactly what to do and what should or shouldn't be done in raising a child. Boy, I was wrong. It's much different when you are the parent. There are so many other issues involved when it is you as the acutaly parent instead of an outsider looking in.

so far i think we are doing good by our children. but my oldest is only 4. i think with the way things are these days its hard to have that great relationship with your kids that you want to have. my parents did pretty good by me and my sister but i'm closer with them then she is and i handled my life a lot better. i think you just have to love them and do the best you can.

Nothing ever meets our expecations and certainly parenting would be high on that list. We have no training in the subject matter nor do kids come with a manual. I have learned that there is no such thing as a good parent, but rather a good enough parent meaning that you were good enough for your children. At some point, they do have to take responsibility for themselves and all you can do is hope that they will use all the tools you provided them with. I really did have my own expectations, but mine are no longer the issue. Their expectations are far more important at this stage and if they are happy with themselves and they are good and honest people, then I know I did my job.

I'm not a parent yet, but I hope that I get my mom's great parenting skills, I really hope I don't pick up much from my father, and I know that sounds bad, but he wasn't the greatest dad ever. He never did anything really for us, but I guess he did the best he could.