The Lion and the Cub: Dad Fail

I am committed to trying to make social media useful, so, in an effort to war against the norm of only posting the “highlight reel” of our lives, I’m gonna keep it real with y’all.

I pride myself on being a good dad, and, for the most part, I am. But, good dads mess up too.

Good dads own up to their mistakes.

Bri and I have really tried to be intentional with raising our kids with the mindset that we aren’t raising 2, 4, and 6 year-olds, we are (hopefully) raising solid 30 year-olds. Parenting doesn’t come with a step-by-step manual. It is an ever-changing, seasonal, case-by-case, day-by-day challenge to love and nurture our kids well.

“Well,” for us, is measured against the Bible.

The best way I can explain our parenting philosophy is to parent with intention. For us, that means different things in different seasons and times. Makena walked really early, Maleah walked really late. Makena started talking early (and hasn’t stopped) and Maleah is barely stringing sentences together at two and a half. Chief has been jumping off things since he could walk, Maleah with sit on her butt to get off a curb. Makena is a fabulous liar, Chief often picks his nose as he is lying. Kids are different. Genders are different. These realities are a part of life. So, parenting with intention looks a little different with each fast-moving season of our kids’ lives and with each kid.

We try to let our kids make choices. Example: Where we eat dinner out. We let them make choices even when we know they are making a bad one. Example: Choosing a small candy now versus an ice cream bar later. We let them decide (most of the time) on what clothes they want to wear.

We let them fail. Two of our kids are VERY stubborn. The other is just mostly stubborn. We are working on that now so that it isn’t as treacherous later on. Though, I am fully aware that we often carry our downfalls (and strengths) as tendencies throughout life, no matter how hard we try to extinguish them (for me that would be pride). But, we let them fail within the guardrails that we believe to be appropriate. Example: I’ll let them fall off a 12" wall that they shouldn’t be walking on, but I wouldn’t let them climb on our roof to fall off.