I had a dry-mouth, heart-stopping, breath-taking moment of panic yesterday as Wesley crept over to the fireplace for about the zillionth time in an hour, glanced over his shoulder at me, heard my "ah ah ah", grinned and proceeded to reach out for the hot glass... I thought, "This is where the actual parenting starts!"... PANIC!
Of course, I became a parent 10 months ago (10 months ago this very day actually!) but up until now my duties have been mostly feeding machine, diaper changer, lullaby singer, entertainer... I feel like now we're getting down to the nitty-gritty of being a parent... the teaching right from wrong part, the discipline part, the "I'm-shaping-the-person-you-will-become" part... gulp!
I don't mean to say Wesley has any real concept of right and wrong at this point, or safety, or even has the long term memory capactity to remember I just told him 5 minutes ago not to touch the fireplace... but he's becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler and all these issues are going to be become very real, very soon. It's forcing Brian and I to think about what kind of discipline we want to practice in our home, how we'll handle temper tantrums and disobedience, and how we can steer this small, impressionable life in the right direction. Thankfully, and so wonderfully, we are not alone in this journey of parenthood... and all the parenting books in the world, while they have their place, will do very little if we're not going to the Lord for his direction in raising our kids. I'm always amazed by the fact that God loves my baby even more than I do (it seems impossible because I love him sooo much!) and he wants nothing but the best for him... so he's on my side, he wants me get this right. And when I make mistakes He'll be there to help me work them out and do better next time. The responsibility is daunting, and overwhelming at times, but I'm so honoured it's one I have been entrusted with!
Stay tuned...
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