A Parents Prayer

I came across this prayer today while I was cleaning out the closet. My mom gave this to me when I was pregnant with Curtis. I must not have read it because it has been in a box ever since. This prayer made me cry because I fall so short as a person and a parent, but God and my kids still love me. I want to strive to be this kind of parent, and only with God can this happen.

A Parents Prayer

O Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.

Teach me to understand my children,

to listen patiently to what they have to say,

and answer all their questions kindly.

Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them.

Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.

Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes,

or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.

May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power.

Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal.

And quide me hour by our that I may demonstrate by

all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meaness in me.

And when I am out of sorts, help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue.

May I ever be mindful that my children are children

and I should not expect of them the judgement of adults.

Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves

and to make decisions.

Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their

reasonable requests and the courage to deny them

privileges I know will do them harm.

Make me fair and just and kind.

And fit me, O Lord, to be loved

and respected and imitated by my children.