Do you feel you've done enough as a parent?

I never feel I am doing enough to equip my 3 kids for the world. There always seems to be another drama that comes up at school that has to be dealt with or just giving them alone time with me. I do sometimes feel like I've personally had enough of parenting though and just want to have me time haha.

I think that most parents feel like they can never do enough. Loving them is certainly important! Sometimes loving them means making them unhappy...chores before play, eating sweets after meals, helping others when we'd rather be playing. I think that it is important to teach them manners and social skills, as well as the skills that they will need to know when they are grown and on their own...how to cook simple meals (this can start young by having the kids help choose groceries, wash vegetables and fruits, etc), how to wash cloths - they can help sort the darks and whites, help fold wash cloths, and so on. Start early and it becomes second nature. Sometimes it might be quicker for us to do it ourselves, but then an oportunity has passed for them to learn a new skill. Is this what you were thinking of???

Misheleen, the term 'enough' should actually be responded from the receiving end, I mean the kids. I feel it is the responsibility of the parent(s) to do the best for their kids. As a parent I feel that I have done as much as I can do for my kids. My two boys are grown up now and today they are happy with their 'living'. If I could have done something more better, I am sure they will be more happy. But I never taught them to be greedy and they are not. If they go to more heights in their life, I am sure, a little amount of credit owes to me. And here, I won't ignore the role of my beloved wife for she had done a lot more than me in growing up our kids. I am also sure that when my kids grow up more and learn more about life they may sometimes feel that many of the lessons we taught them were wrong or need to be mofified according to their standards. That is quite normal in human life. They may feel that their grand parents were more right in so many things and that is called 'third generation syndrome.' Becasue I too have the same feeling at times. I am happy with what I/we have done, they too are happy with that.

The first two older children have been raised and are out of the house now. We did a good job with them. The next two children, we are still working on them. There are days that I think we are doing good and then there are days I just shake my head. Will we ever get through to these two what they need to do now to prepare for their futures??? The grandchildren are still at the "fun" stage so it is easy to teach them through games and stories. Lots of hugs, lots of hugs will always show them how you feel. Words of Praise will encourage them.

I am a SAHM and have never been away from my children for more than a couple of hours. I do my best and smother them all I can. I even feel quilty when I'm online even though they are in the same room talking to me.

I am a mother of 2 and a stepmother of 3 and I think we can never do enough because you can not predict what is around the corner I think we do the best that we can but we can not prepare them from everything because we are still learning as we go along.

Honestly I think most parents feel this way about not doing enough for our kids. I have wondered this myself, I know that they say that the younger generation blames the one before. The point that is missed is that parents do try sometimes to do their best and hardest, yeah we may not always do everything right, but we still keep on trying. I do try to prepare my children for the world, I know that there is always room for improvement, but I think that we look more at our flaws then what we have taught them correctly. To me parenting is the hardest job in the world above all others. You never know exactly what you are going to face or expect in each day. As to compaired just to a job, you go to work and know what you will be facing most of the time that day and days to come. It is how we decided to precieve the circumstances we are in and find the best way to help our children with their needs.

As a parent the whole world won't be enough. I would always want more and more for my kid, but its really hard to make them realize our love for them, as they will always thinks this is our duty towards them.