Despite blogs, books, and baby registries telling you what to expect when you become a parent, I found the whole thing to be a trial-by-fire, hit-the-ground-running, fly-by-the-seat of your pants kind of experience from the first day. Since having our first baby almost eight years ago now, Jared and I had not honestly found many quiet moments to stop and reflect on our parenting philosophies around faith, technology, health, sex, traditions or any other important topics: we’ve been too busy dealing with sleep training, potty training, ear infections, temper tantrums and the other minute by minute emergencies of parenting young children.
So having time set aside for eight Sundays in a row to dedicate to reflecting intentionally on these important topics was hugely helpful all by itself. Added to the set aside time (with childcare obvs!) was the great gift of getting to discuss these important themes of parenting with other parents – some parenting children in the same stages as our own, some with children older or younger – to receive empathy, encouragement, wisdom, and good ideas from them. And of course, the very valuable piece of the curriculum from Orange; led each week by Jan, Joe, or Miriam to encourage conversation and deep reflection on being intentional around how we parent our children in order to make the time that we have as they live under our roof, count.
From these classes we were encouraged to get intentional around some of the conversations we were having with our girls around faith and technology in particular. We were also able to reflect on our current rhythms and schedules and find times throughout the day that made the most sense for us to have some of these important conversations. For some families it was dinner time or bedtime; for us right now it’s after school time and carpool time. I would highly recommend parents of any kid 0-18 to attend this class if it is offered again in the future. The conversation with other parents and the focused reflection and resources provided by the course are inspiring and encouraging. And of course, it’s an extra hour of free childcare each week!
– Jarrett Jackson