Oh heavenly Father, make me
a better parent. Help me to understand my children, to listen patiently
to what they have to say and to understand all their questions kindly.
Keep me from interrupting them, talking back to them and contradicting
them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.
Give me the courage to confess my sins against my children and ask their
forgiveness when I know that I have done wrong. May I not vainly
hurt the feelings of my children. Forbid that I should laugh at their
mistakes, or resort to shame and ridicule as punishment. Let me not
tempt a child to lie and steal.
So guide me hour by
hour that I may demonstrate by all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.
Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. May I cease to nag; and when
I am out of sorts, help me to see the good things they do. Give me
a ready word for honest praise. Help me to treat my children as those
of their own age, but let me not exact of them the judgements and conventions
of adults. Allow me not to rob them of the opportunity to wait upon
themselves, to think, to choose, and to make their own decisions.
Forbid that I should ever punish them for my own selfish-satisfaction.
May I grant them all their wishes that are reasonable and have the courage
to withhold a privilege that I know will do them harm.
Make me so fair and
just, so considerate and companionable to my children that they will have
genuine esteem for me. Fit me to be loved and imitated by my children.
Oh God, do give me calm and poise and self-control.