There are parents, and then there are parents.
There are plenty of folks who do an outstanding job of nurturing, protecting and guiding their children to become healthy, successful adults. For these people, excellent parenting is a high priority in their constellation of life consuming activities. But then there are those unique individuals for whom parenting is not just an important responsibility, but rather, it is their vocation.
Parenting, for them, is a mission, a calling, a summons to fulfill an inner drive of intense intrinsic importance. These individuals are programmed to parent, wired from inception to be part of a special, elite class with a unique purpose.
One of the key characteristics of these remarkable individuals is their seemingly unconditional and uncanny ability to nurture, care for and support children and youth in the most dire and uncomfortable situations.
I count foster and adoptive parents in this elite league of vocational parents. Sadly, I don’t think our society and culture shares this viewpoint; most likely because the incredible responsibilities they take on and the work that they do are rather abstruse and only noticed by a few. True, too, is the fact that societal perceptions have been darkened and jaded by the sensationalizing of a few rare instances of inappropriate conduct.
[For more of this story, written by Jim Roberts, go to https://chronicleofsocialchang...n-of-parenting/10156]
Comments (0)