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Family Priorities


THE GREAT PARENTAL FREAK OUT

Kevin DeYoung

How can parenting be this hard? It’s exhausting. It’s all consuming. It’s the worst job you’ve ever loved having. Either kids have gotten much more demanding over the years, or parents have decided to make their lives more difficult than they have to be. Most parents I know–including the two that live in my house–are often bothered, usually stressed, and always tired.
No doubt, some of this is unavoidable. From running them around town, to helping with homework, to breaking up fights, to cleaning up puke, to mending broken hearts, raising kids is a lot of work.
But if we are going to work hard, let’s make sure we are working hard at the right things. The average Christian parent in the West is probably more involved in the day to day demands of parenting than almost any other parents in the history of the world. And yet, these same parents are likely more worried about being terrible parents than were their parents or grandparents, let alone their great- or great-great-great-grandparents.
We are all about to freak out. And it may not be over any of the right things.
I seldom feel like a really good parent. I love my wife and love my kids deeply, but being a husband has always seemed pretty straightforward (thanks to my wife, no doubt), while I’ve always felt much more inadequate as a parent. There are dozens of things I wish I did better. Not many, however, are worth fretting and fussing.
Here are four things parents should stop freaking out about.
1. Food. I know you read an article once about how bubble gum stays in the small intestines for 73 years and that kids these days aren’t getting enough flax in their diet, but it will be okay. Be sensible. Make them try new things. Keep the complaining to a minimum. Put some apples or carrots in the lunch box. But after that, let’s take a deep breath and relax. So what if McDonald’s food looks the same after sitting on the counter for three years. Don’t leave it on the counter for three years! Everyone knows you are supposed to eat the fries while they’re hot.
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