{"id":142,"date":"2014-05-17T14:06:57","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T14:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/parentingonpurpose\/?p=142"},"modified":"2014-05-17T14:06:57","modified_gmt":"2014-05-17T14:06:57","slug":"parenting-without-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/parentingonpurpose\/2014\/05\/parenting-without-fear.html","title":{"rendered":"Parenting Without Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/parentingonpurpose\/files\/2014\/05\/bigstock-Inspirational-quote-by-ancient-63433075-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-144\" alt=\"Inspirational quote by ancient Greek philosopher Seneca\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/368\/2014\/05\/bigstock-Inspirational-quote-by-ancient-63433075-2-300x300.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/b>Our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of our children is generally a top priority in each parent\u2019s life. We want to feel like our lives are filled with joy and we want our children to be joyous.\u00a0 However, we cannot feel joy and inspire it in our children if we spend time being <b><i>fearful.<\/i><\/b> As parents, we must first<i> live<\/i> what we hope to<i> inspire<\/i> in them. Don\u2019t we want to inspire safety, trust and wellbeing?<\/p>\n<p>What do we fear in regard to our kids? We may fear for their safety, choices in friends, their health, school performance etc. Fearing for our kids will never serve us, or them.<\/p>\n<p>Each of us can move away from fear by learning to <i>trust<\/i> our life process and have <i>faith<\/i> regarding how things will turn out for us and for our kids as well. \u00a0One way we can do this is by practicing habits of thought that serve us, or in other words, <b><i>feel good.<\/i><\/b> \u00a0Are we <i>allowing <\/i>our wellbeing or are we sabotaging it by indulging in these fearful thoughts and expecting the worst? Our expectations will determine what we experience, so we want to learn to<i> expect<\/i> that <b><i>all is well<\/i><\/b> with our children and us.<\/p>\n<p>We have a choice in what we give energy to in our thoughts, and a choice in redirecting these thoughts when fear seeps in.\u00a0 An<i> example<\/i> of how to redirect our thoughts might be this: Your teen is late coming home from school, you don\u2019t know where they are, and they have your car. They are rarely late and aren\u2019t answering their cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>It may be our natural inclination to default to worry, imagining the worst and getting worked up and stressed out. These thoughts will never serve us as we have no control over the outcome of the situation with our teen, and we are ruining our sense of wellbeing as well. They will arrive home to a freaked out parent that won\u2019t be inspiring faith and trust. Chances are, we will be <i>reactive<\/i> as soon as they walk through the door.<\/p>\n<p>As soon as we notice that our thoughts are going in an unwanted direction, it\u2019s important to stop this<i> momentum <\/i>by finding thoughts that soothe us. We might say to ourselves, \u201c <i>I trust that my teen is fine and will be coming home soon<\/i>.\u201d Say this over and over if necessary and gently keep any thoughts that don\u2019t feel good at bay.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to not push against any fear we are experiencing, but to acknowledge it and release it. This is done with intent and by redirecting our focus.<\/p>\n<p><b><i><\/i><\/b><b><i>We can never control the outcome where another person is concerned, but our thoughts will affect how we experience it.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>When we practice wellbeing we move away from fear. Let\u2019s teach our children trust and the practice of being in control of their essential and life-affirming sense of wellbeing.<\/p>\n<p>Please feel free to comment!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2014. \u00a0Sharon Ballantine. \u00a0All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0Our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of our children is generally a top priority in each parent\u2019s life. We want to feel like our lives are filled with joy and we want our children to be joyous.\u00a0 However, we cannot feel joy and inspire it in our children if we spend time being fearful.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":569,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Parenting Without Fear - Parenting on Purpose<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parenting Without Fear - Parenting on Purpose\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 \u00a0Our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of our children is generally a top priority in each parent\u2019s life. We want to feel like our lives are filled with joy and we want our children to be joyous.\u00a0 However, we cannot feel joy and inspire it in our children if we spend time being fearful.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/parentingonpurpose\/2014\/05\/parenting-without-fear.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Parenting on Purpose\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-17T14:06:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/parentingonpurpose\/files\/2014\/05\/bigstock-Inspirational-quote-by-ancient-63433075-2-300x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"srballantine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Parenting Without Fear - Parenting on Purpose","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Parenting Without Fear - Parenting on Purpose","og_description":"\u00a0 \u00a0Our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of our children is generally a top priority in each parent\u2019s life. 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