A parent's project: advice for mothers-to-be

If you are expecting a baby it is a wonderful time to consider your knowledge on parenting. How will you raise your child? What do you know about parenting? Do you want to raise your child the way your parents raised you?

The science of the art of upbringing children is not taught at special schools for parents. It is taught at the school of life. From childhood people learn about parenting; they learn it from their parents, and from other adults of the community. The fewer people around a child the less teachers he has. If an only child is raised by a single mother she is the only responsible one. Everything in a child-parent relationship will depend on how well prepared the mother is to parent. Perhaps, it will help to consider your parenting as a parent's project with goals, objectives, and realistic conditions.

In this work you will need a good guide. We have advice for mothers-to-be: read the book Parenting For Everyone by Simon Soloveychik. We are starting a series of articles introducing classical parenting ideas taken from this book.

So it begins... A serious attempt to understand the roots of humanity in people. Soloveychik's first chapter is short. As a short but deep inhalation of air before starting a long journey, a journey of understanding the science about the art of child-rearing.

Why art? As each individual is unique, each childhood is unique. Each child's upbringing may become a masterpiece of a talented parent, unique for each child, or it may become an ugly picture by an unjust and heartless parent. It's an art because you need talent to raise a child, talent of faith, hope and love. These concepts belong to the category of art .

Why science? Because there are laws. Knowing these laws is essential. If we don't learn about them naturally from our parents, we have to learn about them from life, from our children, or from other people, the hard way. As Soloveychik says, "We all have to teach each other, because we cannot teach little children."

This is our advice for mothers-to-be: prepare for child rearing, learn about the laws of child-parent relationship and discover your parenting talents.

(Commentary to Simon Soloveychik's Parenting For Everyone, Book1part1chapter1. Parenting is the science about the art of upbringing)