Parental duties
By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA,
roycimagala@gmail.com
September 25, 2013
IT doesn’t do us harm if
from time to time we remind ourselves of certain basic duties. Given
the rapid flow of events nowadays, chances are high that even the most
fundamental responsibilities are taken for granted.
Among these duties are those
of parents toward their children. Truth is a number of problems are
sprouting nowadays whose causes can be traced to a certain extent to
parental neglect.
These problems, of course,
vary according to the circumstances of the families and parents. I
have seen “habal-habal” and jeepney drivers, for example, bringing
little children and even infants in their vehicles. I imagine it’s
because the poor fellows do not have anyone else to leave their little
children in the house when they do their work.
Among middle-class families,
I have also seen cases where the parents are out of the house the
whole day, presumably working hard for the family, but without
spending time with the children. As a result, many of these children
grow unsupervised and likely end up wayward.
As to the well-to-do
families, there is a tendency to spoil the children who are given
practically everything to satisfy their most ridiculous whims and
caprices. The poor kids end up being soft and yet burning with
inordinate desires and ambitions.
The problems are many
indeed. So we just have to remind ourselves of basic truths that
actually are very beautiful to consider and are also practicable, if
only to more effectively address these problems.
Parents, to be sure, have to
be keenly aware that they are the first and direct link between God
and their children. It’s through them that a human person, a child of
God is brought into existence.
As such, they have to be
always conscious of their God-given mission as parents. They cannot
constrict the understanding of their parenthood by restricting it to
its merely natural basis, which in the last analysis would always
point to God as the creator and lawgiver of the nature of parenthood.
They have to have the mind
of God always when dealing with their children. We have to remember
that God always intervenes in the lives of everyone, and he uses us as
human instruments in that abiding divine intervention in our life. And
parents are one of these human instruments he uses to reach out to
children.
Parents, of course, take
care of their children in their basic needs – physical, emotional,
educational, social, etc. More than these, they are the first
educators of their children, since parenthood is not simply a matter
of begetting children but also a duty of bringing up their children to
be mature persons and children of God.
They instill in their
children not only the human values and virtues but also nurture the
spiritual life, the piety, life of prayer, faith, charity, etc. of
their children. In the hierarchy of parental duties, these that refer
more to the spiritual and moral life of the children possess greater
importance.
For this, parents should
deal with their children with a lot of affection and understanding,
but without compromising the need for discipline which children are
always in need of, and much less neglect their duty to educate their
children in the faith and morals.
Parents should therefore
realize that they have to be role models to their children 24/7.
That’s why they need to be spiritually and morally strong and vibrant,
always realizing the need for continuing spiritual struggle and
renewal, since our human condition is hounded also by human
weaknesses, temptations and sin.
And without compromising
their parental authority over their children, but rather enhancing it,
parents should know how to be friends to their children, always
winning their trust. They should be able to enter into the minds and
hearts of their children to help them in the more important aspect of
the children’s inner spiritual growth.
They have to spend time with
their children, and practices and traditions should be created in the
family that foster family togetherness and unity, as well as mutual
care and concern for one another in the family.
When signs of insensitivity
to the needs of others, habitual laziness and idleness and inability
to fulfill tasks reasonably can be observed in children, parents
should not hesitate to give the appropriate discipline. This is a
matter of genuine love.
As to faith and piety, it
would be good that within the family, a continuing catechesis adapted
to the conditions of the children be given. This for sure will do a
lot of good to the children.