We have finally finished our 10 weeks STARS Training class
for our Foster Care License. The amount
of knowledge that has been bestowed up on us has been great and the amount of
wisdom that we have gained about parenting has been humongous. People have said I am a good parent. I don’t know about that, but if it’s true, I
should be a fantastic one now. I have
learned more about parenting and dealing with difficult kids more in 10 weeks
than I have learned in 12 years as a Juvenile Corrections Officer.
I thought it would be good to come up with a “TOP 5 things
that I learned while going through Foster Care classes”…
#5 Every time you learn a new way to deal with a
difficult behavior, your own kids may exhibit the behavior as a test to see if
you really learned it.
#4 Hearing stories about how difficult other
kids can be makes your own children seem like angels.
#3 Doing things for your children and taking
your kids for ice cream or treating them for no other reason than the fact that
they are your kids and you love them teaches your kids the invaluable lesson
that you love them no matter what.
#2 Getting kids to “buy in” and think that they
have the answer to a problem is much more effective than you giving them the
answer and making them follow your directions.
#1 Even if God chooses not to keep a child in my
care after pouring my life into theirs for hours and days on end, I will know
that at least the child will know what it is like to be loved and that my heart
will break even if no one else’s does.
Sometimes I fear that when people read these blogs that it
comes off that I am better than everyone else and have all the answers. Believe me, that is not the case. As a matter of fact, I share these things so
that everyone can learn what I have been learning. So that everyone can benefit including
me. Please comment below if there is
something you would like to add to our “Top 5”.
I need all the help I can get.
Update: Just so you
may be praying for us or willing to help, we are in the process of building a
bedroom and bathroom in our downstairs to make the living situation better in
our current home. We also will be
building a fence in our back yard to make it much safer for children’s play. Please let me know if you have resources or
willing to help in our endeavor. This
may be a great way for you to help in “our story” when you may not know a way
to support or have been called to do foster care on your own.
