Search This Blog

Monday, October 3, 2011

What does a nagging parent really mean?

We have all been nagged. Actually let me rephrase that: I hope we have all been lucky enough to have been nagged by our parents. Have you ever thought what nagging really is? It is a parent saying to a child: I care about you. I love you so much that I wish for every good thing for you. I remind you ten times to pray because I know how important praying is. I threaten not to remind you any more, and then do so anyway, because I know you are young and forgetful and I was young and forgetful not so long ago ( and am now old and forgetful!)

Parents are peculiar. They want their kids to do well in this world and the next and yet they know that as the child grows older they should give less advice. Yet somehow, parental love is expressed best in those reminders and words of caution that are given out. We find ourselves nagging and wonder if we are driving our kids crazy. The answer is probably yes, yet we still go on, fearing somehow that our love with go unexpressed if we do not pass on our life lessons, and pass them on again, and say it just one more time.

So parents will nag. Please realize the intention behind the words. They do not indicate a lack of trust in the child. They do not indicate a lack of faith. They are a show of love, of caring and the concern that parents constantly feel for their kids. Nagging is love without makeup on.

No comments:

Post a Comment