REFLECTION PAPER
Parenting is one of the hardest tasks we could ever
encounter in our lives. It is both a duty and responsibility. But at the end of
the day, as the saying goes, it is worthwhile.
I, myself is a parent too. And what makes it more
difficult in my situation is that I am a single mother, taking the
responsibility of being the mother and the father to my daughter, working, and
studying all at the same time.
One of the hardest things that I encountered in being a
single parent is disciplining my child. If you ask me if I ever scold my child,
the answer is yes, I do. But what I do after I scolded her (if she is already sober),
is I talk to her alone. I explain to her why I got mad and why it is necessary
for me to scold her. I also explain to her the importance of discipline. We do
have a bonding time every night, we read a book, we talk about her day and I also
share to her what happened to me at work. It is our favorite time of the day. So
even though I am tired after work, we never miss this night talk before we
sleep.
I believe that right and constant communication is one
way to discipline a child. It is also a way of expressing your love as a
parent. Communication is so vital in every relationship that mostly, it fails because
of the lack of it.
If there is one advise that I could impart to other
parents is that, since communication is very important in our relationship with our children, then we should always remember to have a constant communication with God. Teach your child the importance of faith. Because at the end of the day, our
child will eventually outlive us. And it is important for them to have that
faith to fall back on and to stand on when we are no longer there to guide
them. It will be their solace. We must accept that eventually we will have to
let go of them, and our responsibility is to raise them to become strong, brave,
and responsible for their own. And we must also accept the fact that we are
also just human beings, and we are not perfect parents, we have our lapses and
shortcomings as well, (and I do not want to sound too religious), but I believe
that only God could fill up those gaps that we cannot fill ourselves. And at
the end of the day, what keeps us going is our faith, so why not impart that
faith to our children as well so they can keep on carrying their lives as well
even after we already passed.
In the end, all our sacrifices will be worth it. After all, the child is always the glory of the parent.