Basic HTML Version
The
Greatest Gift
YouCan
Give
Your Children
by
Ronald D. Kelly
lt's not money, power or prestige. Though every parent has it- too many never give it.
R
ECENTLY
a young cou–
ple carne t o me for
advice. They were ex–
periencing the joy of their
first baby. I n anticipa–
tion of the coming years
they wanted to be sure
t hey did the best job
possible with chi ld rear–
ing.
"What is the one thing
you can tell us which will
help us rear ou r children
successfully?" they asked.
My answer was, " There is
no
one
thing. There are no
magic formulas. Successful child
rearing will be plain old-fash–
ioned hard work."
"But," they continued, "surely
you can tell us the one biggest les–
son you've learned?"
Since that conversation, I've giv–
en a lot of thought to the best
answer to that question.
First l considered waiting six
more years before writing tbis arti–
cle. That way, our youngest child
would be grown and on her own
and 1 could at last fee l qualified to
speak out on the subject of child
rearing.
But that would be avoiding the
question. My wife and I bave pro–
gressed through more than 21 years
October 1983
of chi ld rearing. So 1 suppose 1 am
as qualified as 1 ever will be to
write on this all-important subject.
Our five children have given us a
combined 84 years of child-rearing
experience. The next six years
will probably not change us
or them all that much.
And from the valuable
Jessons we have learned
along the way, we have dis–
covered one big key to suc-
cessful child rearing. But before we
get to that, let's lay the founda–
tion.
Bringing New Lite into the Wo rld
The birth of a child into a family is
one of the greatest thrills of life.
Young couples eagerly anticípate
the day of arrival. Months of waiting
and planning and dreaming and hop–
ing culminate in the excitement of
newborn life.
15