Help my Children Please. They Need You.
I was an obsessive Dad.
I was a caring Dad.
I was an impatient Dad.
I was an opinionated Dad.
I was a very loving Dad.
What does a dad do when his children cannot walk because they have poor muscle tone?
Seek help. I’m not a physiotherapist.
What does a dad do when his child cannot hold a pencil and co-ordinate all the fine muscle movements necessary to colour in?
You’re right . Be patient.
But when those skills are not developing at the age appropriate rate?
There is a time when patience has got to turn to action, and the parent needs to investigate by seeking the help of an occupational therapist.
And when your child is not babbling at 9 months of age- there is something definitely wrong. Most average children are babbling by 6 months or earlier. I had a child that was not labelling the things in her world at 18 months. She would point and say sounds, but nothing that resembled an approximation to the word itself.
You know what I am going to say, don’t you?
A caring dad seeks the help of a speech pathologist.
I am pleased that I can report that if you met any of my children today you would not recognize that they found the acquiring of skills hugely challenging.
However, I know for one thing if we had to travel those paths alone in their early years, the outcomes may not have been as positive as what they were.
In some alternative cultures, they believe it takes the tribe to raise a child. Perhaps they’re onto something.
Parenting is a difficult task, even when your children do not have any noticeable impairments. It turns out that my children have their own particular challenges still, but they are learning the skills of independence from parents now. They are teenagers.
And I am left thinking about the need we all have for one another. It is fundamental to our survival.
Psychology acknowledges that, the Bible affirms that, and our own personal experience shows it to be true.
My faith journey has granted me many blessings from other people.
From God’s perspective, perhaps, it’s the people that know the real me that are my greatest blessing and annoyance all at the same time. Like I pushed my children to do things that were for a time tedious, repetitive and uncomfortable, God allows people into my life to try my patience, challenge my values, and betray my reputation. I have difficulties in developing actions of love towards others that offend me, being patient in trials, rejoicing in difficulties, being self controlled when provoked.
While I was concerned with the maturational skills of my children, God my Heavenly Father has a character curriculum for me to embrace. Does he have his own chart of character qualities he is forming in me?
Like I was a good dad to my children,(at least sometimes), God is a good Father to me. He sees what I need, and he has those experiences that I need to master that I might function in this world as a mature son of His.
Like my children before me who use to often complain and attempt to avoid the therapy exercises, I often resist the lessons that are sent to mature me. Like my children, however, I believe I will grow to maturity. God is faithful. He works within me. I work it out in behaviour through his enabling power and grace..(Philippians 2:12)
As a Dad, I can get a tiny glimpse of God’s love relationship with me, when I see my heart toward my own.
