Dear Parent,

We are very excited that you are visiting with us and we hope that you’ll find encouragement, strength and hope within these pages. As parents ourselves, we understand the joys and struggles that you face as you work toward helping your children grow into productive, healthy and happy adults. It is this understanding and desire that provides the basis for everything we do at P2P.

Congrats! You’ve made an amazing choice.

First, we want to start by congratulating you on choosing the most honored profession in all the world - parenting. There is nothing in life that consumes as much of our time, attention and concern then parenting our children. As these precious little ones come into our lives whether through birth, fostering or adoption, we are overwhelmed with love and joy while at the same time paralyzed with the fear of failure. Let us assure you that you are not alone in these emotions.

This is the biggest commitment you’ll make in life.

Becoming a parent is the biggest commitment that any person makes in life. It is not a commitment that you can enter into lightly or forget about when it’s no longer convenient - you’re in it for life. And, when we make the choice to bring children into our family, we must do it with the understanding that our priorities will have to shift and our parenting must take center stage so that our children have the best chances for success in life.

You don’t have to struggle.

For many parents, priority setting becomes a constant struggle between success in their own careers or success as a parent. Others, find that parenting is really hard as their kids begin to grow up and they begin to feel alone and beat themselves up for failing. And then there are those that want so badly for their kids to love them that they do everything in their power to make sure they stay happy only to discover that their little precious children have become unrecognizable from the hopes and dreams they had for them. So, what exactly happens along the way? How do we find ourselves so off track that as a society of parents we now need reality TV shows like Nanny 911 to rescue damaged families? We’ve all been there at one time or another and have friends that watch struggle in their parenting. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You Can Raise Healthy, Balanced Children

You and you alone have everything your children need to grow into healthy, balanced adults. As a parent, you instinctively know your children better than anyone else. The problem for most parents is that they’re afraid of really doing what they know in their heart they should - whether it’s denying your child the latest gadget, making them sit quietly and reflect on their behavior, leaving a difficult situation or just talking to them about their problems. We want to help you learn how to recognize and tap into your natural instincts for parenting your children.

You Don’t Have to Go it Alone

It’s normal that you may need some help along the way, sometimes we question ourselves, wonder if we’ve done the right thing and just need someone to lean on during tough times in parenting. That’s why we encourage parents to form relationships with one another, create community and learn to share in one another’s struggles and successes. As parents, we too often close ourselves off from others and assume that no one can understand or relate to our issues.

You Do Have Permission to Parent Your Children

No school, church or extra-curricular activity is going to provide your children with what they need from you as their parent. Don’t be afraid to be a parent; they’re your kids, you have permission. :o)

We’re so glad you’re here at Permission to Parent and we hope you find inspiration, encouragement and strength.

Sincerely,

Suzanne & Pam