A Manifesto for Parenting One Another

What would happen to our parenting (and all our relating to others) if we gave up our commitment to perfection and instead treated ourselves, and the people around us, as always 'works in progress'? A conversation about care, kindness, taking a stand, and walking the path of practice with Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Here’s Episode 91 of Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. We’re also on YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify

It's probably true that none of us can expect perfect parenting, and none of us can be perfect parents. The reason is simple - we are all of us incomplete, and none of us perfectly able to see fully, and respond to fully, the depth and breadth of the uniqueness of small people who come into our care. 

And it's exactly in giving up our ideas of perfection - our expectation that we know exactly what to do, and that we should be able to be in control of everything - that we have the biggest chance of parenting with the care, humility and creativity that raising children requires of us: when we can take a stand for commitments we care about, and at the same time be honest about our mistakes and incompleteness; when we can act in stewardship without imagining ourselves to be demi-gods with super-human powers; when we can be vulnerable enough to feel without 'acting out' of our feelings; when we can model apology and acts of repair when we find ourselves taking an unhelpful path.

These qualities that can help us parent more skilfully and forgivingly are the same qualities that can support us in all our human relating, which is why we have called this episode 'A Manifest for Parenting One Another'.

You can find our source on our website here.