04/16/2025
I was asked to contribute to this topic of emotionally intelligent parents (found in the second to last paragraph in the attached Good Housekeeping article). We are all on a learning curve and it's important that parents receive continual support to take care of ourselves while raising young impressionable children in a broken world full of broken people. While the politically correct world speaks of empowering minority groups and cultures, brokenness describes all people including Christians, nonimmigrants, socioeconomically stable Americans, two parent households, etc ...
Marriage and parenting are both hard, even if you're not in an in*******al marriage, raising a blended family, or fostering/adopting. Adults may have unprocessed wounds from the past, interact with unhealthy communication or conflict resolution styles in marriage, and our children, each one with unique personalities, gifts, and needs, often absorb all our baggage despite our best efforts to do better than our parents did.
Studies show that men seek professional help at lower rates than women, and younger men at higher rates than older men. Investing in professional counseling on a regular basis can be expensive, and I wish I could say that I am setting a good example in this area for other moms, ... but besides individual counseling, there are also low-cost counseling and support groups at local churches. So, even if seeking professional help has not been modeled for us by older folks in our lives, we can break the cycle and invest in our emotional health today. I'm grateful to the girlfriends and Titus moms who set this example of humility and life-long learning for me!
Do you have this trait?
