Prayer for Parents

Dear Heavenly Father,
Make me a better parent.
Teach me to understand my children,
to listen patiently to what they have to say
and to answer 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 to ask of them forgiveness
when I know that I have done them wrong.

May not I 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 my 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, O Lord, to hold my tongue.
Blind me to the little errors of my children,
and help me to see the good things that they do.

Give me a ready word to honest praise.
Help me to grow up with my children,
to treat them as those of their own age,
but let me not expect of them
the judgments and conventions of adults.

Allow me not to rob them of the opportunity
to wait upon themselves, to think,
to choose and to make decisions.
Forbid that I should ever punish them
for my selfish satisfaction.

May I grant them all their wishes
that are reasonable and have the courage
always to withhold a privilege
which I know will do them harm.

Make me so fair and just, so considerate
and companionable to my children
that they will have a genuine esteem for me.
Fit me to be loved and imitated by my children.
AMEN.

~ Author unknown ~