Parenting with Grace & Grit
Parenting is no doubt one of the hardest- but most rewarding - experiences you will ever have. Whether you’re parenting as a couple or walking this road as a single parent, one truth remains: how you choose to parent is totally up to you.
For me, I chose to raise my three daughters biblically guided by one particular scripture:
“Raise up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
I once read a translation that explained this verse as “pointing them toward their natural giftings.” That idea stayed with me. It reminded me that parenting wasn’t about shaping my children into my image - it was about helping them discover the image God already placed within them.
My oldest daughter was always a social butterfly- our yard was never without neighborhood kids trampling down our flowerbed, eating up endless popsicles from our freezer, due to her inviting every kid on the block to our home. She was and is the kind of person to walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with countless friends. Today, she is a well-known social media influencer and also works full time as a marketing executive, connecting with people from all walks of life.
My middle daughter was somewhat cautious about people, but her calm disposition allowed people to feel she was a safe place to land if they wanted friendship and loyalty. She has maintained her same close circle of girlfriends since elementary school, which is a feat in itself these days. She has a huge heart for listening to others without allowing other peoples problems to upset her peace. That same heart now guides her to help others as a mental health therapist.
And my youngest? She was my careful observer of people, my curious one - always asking why people do what they did, always noticing what others missed. She was nurturing even as a little girl, and it makes perfect sense that she serves children with special needs as a special education teacher in the public school system.
I’ve seen too many parents try to remake their children into replicas of themselves, and then wonder why their kids grow frustrated or rebellious. God didn’t design them to relive our story - He designed them to write their own.
I remember once telling my middle daughter to clean her room. A while later I went to check to see how much progress she had made, only to find her standing in the middle of the floor twisting her t-shirt into knots. I asked her, “Why isn’t your room clean yet?” She looked at me, all of six years old and said, “I was gonna do it, I just don’t like it when you keep telling me over and over to do something.”
I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. That moment reminded me that children crave respect too - even when we’re the ones guiding them. Children feel safest when there’s structure and boundaries. Those boundaries don’t limit who they can become - they simply give them a safe place to grow. I learned early on that conversations go further than lectures. When you take time to listen and talk, you build connection. And one day those lively, thought-provoking conversations will return to you as wisdom reflected in their words.
Maybe that’s what God meant when He said, “they will not depart from it.”
Mama Wisdom: Because sometimes the lesson isn’t in the mess, it’s in the moment.
