What is your biggest challenge as a parent?

And how do you try to overcome it?What is your biggest challenge as a parent?
Getting my message across to the Y!A community and furthering my career as a Y!A ';Top Contributor';. I am not there yet, but with practice I will get there for sure (I see you have a badge).





=)





My challenge: juggling my son, my career and trying to keep my sanity.





My plan: I try to take at least 1 hour per week and do something just for me. I also take full advantage of naps and have been known to take a bubble bath while he is napping :)What is your biggest challenge as a parent?
Watching them grow up. Knowing that you have a limited amount of time, or X more years to try to teach them everything that you feel is necessary to prepare them to be a good man or woman.





How I try to overcome it.... take every day for what it's worth, and try to remind myself that lessons intertwine ( I don't have to have a set lesson-plan everyday, even though I am tempted to).
My biggest challenge is not being too protective and giving them freedom as they get older. I tend to worry a lot and it's in my nature to be protective of them.





I overcome it by talking through it with them and because they know how I am they are good about calling to let me know things for example tonight my 15 yr old and 12 yr old walked down the street to the pizza place with their friend to get dinner by themselves. They brought their own money and walked back after. They called me when they were on their way home so I would know.





Luckily they are responsible kids because otherwise I'd be a nervous wreck every time they went anywhere. My husband helps too because he is not protective at all and so he will say things that help me relax about it.
Resisting the urge to be teacherly. I haven't taught in a number of years, and I thoroughly disagree with the way I was forced to teach, but it's so ingrained in my head that I have to remind myself of the reasons I left the classroom behind, and not treat my children like students.





I overcome it just by pushing the school thoughts away and doing things, rebellious things and unteacherly things, that my first-year-teacher-self would have strongly disapproved of. Even tiny rebellions, like not correcting that last sentence where I ended it with a preposition.
Definitely demands early in the morning - it's hard to wake up at 5, get stuff started at the restaurant, come back, and get two kids ready for school and to the bus stop, all the while trying to find Dinosaur, or a headband, or whatever else. AND Lauren won't eat school lunches and Josh is allergic to peanuts and dairy products so have to make two lunches.





I know that a lot of people are saying that patience is their biggest problem, but frankly it's my solution! It's the only way you can do anything in life; parent, work, even talk to people some days! lol. I have to remind myself that at that age they're truly unable to fully realize that I've got lots of things to do, and asking for more things isn't going to help that any!! (Just IMO, of course :))





Sorry it was so short. :\





Edit: Judo has a great answer. :)
Honestly my biggest challenge has been learning to be patient with my daughter and understand that she's just a kid. Sometimes it's easy to get frustrated and I've really had to learn to take a breath and say ';She's not doing this to make me mad. She's just a kid.';





Lots of deep breaths and walking away when I need to.
Getting up early with them pretty much kills me. They like to get up at about 5 am...while even my husband doesn't get up until 6 am for work. Once the baby is up, then my daughter automactically gets, she never fails, never misses a time when it's just him...and wants to start the day. I usually send her back to bed but she HAS to eat before she goes back to bed or she will have a breakdown. So by then i'm just fully awake and the baby is awake too.





They have so much more energy than i do.
My daughter is only 6 months old so I haven't ran into any major challenges so far but the one thing I think will be a challenge for me as she gets older is being open minded to her opinions/views/lifestyle/etc. I want to be able to accept her and love her for no matter what she decides in her life and her to be able to tell me those decisions she has made.
Keeping her engaged in life, setting a good example, accepting that she is growing, and keeping my patience.





I guess that is more than one challenge.





I don't know how I overcome it. But she still loves me, so I guess I'm doing something right.
challenge?? a child is very beneficial, quit your job now live off the child


YAAAAAAY slaves





lol 3 thumbs down
Being stuck at home. I hate cleaning and cooking and I hate diapers. But I do it and I get through it.
Patience. There is no written book that actually has worked 100% when practicing it's teachings !
Time management. It's constantly a challenge but I manage, not sure how though.
Energy! They have TONS more than I.


I drink a lot of tea, and some energy drinks and take a daily nap!
getting everything organised in time and running all day by myself
Patience with the kids, especially when they argue with each other.
mornings





coffee
My lack of patience. I pray a lot asking for more patience and understanding.