Parenting as a Character Revealer: Before We Had Children...

"Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful." ~Jacqueline Bisset

Have you ever had a childless single friend brag about their own ability for extreme patience? How about a well-intentioned relative who claims to have all the secrets up her sleeve about the mass- organization of a kid-filled household - only failing to mention that she never became a parent herself? Let's not forget the highly acclaimed child psychologists who write countless books regarding discipline and child-rearing - but have never actually tested these theories because they have no children of which to speak.

Please don't take me the wrong way. I welcome advice from others and can certainly benefit from an outside observation or two in my parenting. Those who love us the most are those who are willing to be lovingly honest if they see something has gone awry. My point is simply this; you do not know how you will react or behave as a parent until children have actually slidden down your birth canal.

Before we had children of our own, we may have paid lip-service to how we thought we would raise our own children (never letting them do this or that), scoffed at others whose toddlers were seemingly out-of-control, and we may have been thoroughly angered by the woman in the store who at her wit's end raised her voice to her five small children. We had parenting all figured out, didn't we? Now make way for baby - the character revealer.

Becoming a parent has the unique ability to show us exactly what we are lacking in the realm of character traits. Whether we have a weak backbone, difficulty with self-discipline, or trouble controlling our tempers - be prepared to have that flaw magnified by a hundred-fold!