Parenting Mentor: Be the Person You Hope Your Child Will Become

As a wife and homeschooling mother of four, Sally Clarkson guided her children into successful, creative, flourishing adulthood. As a speaker, podcast host and author of more than 20 books, she has poured into the lives of thousands of families through the years. And today, she continues to nurture other parents by sharing the vision, values and philosophy that have shaped her own family, most specifically in her upcoming release, Awaking Wonder: Opening Your Child’s Heart to the Beauty of Learning.

But many parents don’t seem to have time for wonder. Especially in the wake of COVID-19, they’re struggling just to survive. “How do I teach my children completely or partly at home?” “What if I don’t do enough?” “What are the best books and teaching techniques?” In her role as mentor, Clarkson hears all these questions and more. Although she admits there’s no easy answer, she does share some practical advice with host Marti Pieper on a recent episode of the Family Matters podcast series on the Charisma Podcast Network.

“As we look in this world, it’s very difficult right now. This is a season of time in which there’s a lot of darkness, a lot of anxiety, a lot of challenges,” Clarkson says. She adds that we need to understand that, as parents, we bring two important things to the table. “One is, we need to be the person that we hope they will grow into in the sense that Jesus said that the student will become like his master.

“And so if we want our children to have integrity, we need to seek integrity. If we want children to be readers of the Word of God, they need to see us doing it,” Clarkson says. “If we want our children to engage with compassion for other people, then we need to be having hospitality in our home or be involved in reaching out to others so that they can learn, ‘Oh, I have love I can give; I have generosity I can share.’ And so the first and most important curriculum is the parent’s heart.”

Clarkson also says, “The second thing I would say is that I really believe that if we understand how important our influence is: that unconditional love and acceptance for each child opens their heart to being willing to learn from us. What I mean by that is, I think sometimes in our public school systems or even Christian school systems, because we have to organize children … to have order, sometimes what we might miss is that every child has a different personality, different DNA, different fingerprints. And as a teacher of our children, as parents, we can say, ‘What motivates this child? What drives their imagination? What are they good at? What are they not good at? How can I enhance the development of my child, because I care about them more than anybody else ever will?'”

To hear more of Sally Clarkson’s wisdom on awaking the joy of learning and discovery in your child, click here to listen to the entire podcast. {eoa}