The Importance of Having Patience in Parenting

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It’s 2am and I can’t sleep. I watched something awful on Youtube and it is haunting me still. It’s a cctv recording of a father and his teenage son arguing. The father took out his gun, placed it in front of his son, dared him to shoot the dad but the son shot himself instead. Without even hesitating, the son took the gun and pulled the trigger. In just a fraction of a second the son is dead, right in front of the father and also his mother as she was nearby when it happened. Both the parents collapsed when they realised what had just happened. 

It took less than a second to pull that trigger. It was too easy. Too easy to pull the trigger. In the heat of the arguments, the brain can’t even think while the fingers did the irreversible damage. My friend told me the cause for the argument is because the dad nagged the son for not helping his mother to close the grocery shop as he was engrossed playing video games. A life is lost on such trivial matter. I wish that the Youtube video is fake but it is not…

My heart is shattered. I cry for this parents. There is nothing they can do to bring their son back to life. But there is something we parents can do. Have more patience dealing with our kids. The best parents have patience. When we lose our patience we become frustrated and angry. Our kids will act out on our frustration, giving us more resentment to make matters worse. We are so caught up in the hustle and bustle of our hectic lives that we (or rather me) has forgotten to appreciate the miracle of life. I must remind myself to love my kids more. To listen to them further. To understand them better. To let them grow.

I pray to be given more awareness of my emotions and my attitudes. I pray to be able to overcome every challenging situation with peace and calm. I pray to be able to care more about others than myself. I pray for a better tomorrow for my children and every other child in this world.