As parents, we cannot help but yearn for our child's success. Obviously this is rooted in a beautiful and healthy love. But sometimes that love can give way to fear, and that fear leads to anxieties that are unhealthy, not only for us, but for our children as well. What can we do about this? How can we care deeply about our children, without worrying so much that our worrying actually begins to weigh on the little guys we’re worrying about?
This week, we bring to you a recent Heights Lecture given by Mr. Alex Berthé, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and former Heights teacher/mentor. Blending clinical expertise with his own personal experiences, Alex helps us unpack the forces—rooted in love, though often expressed in fear—that are feeding our anxieties. In particular, Alex offers reflections on four key areas:
Anchored in hope and optimism, Alex shares how we, as parents subject to these powerful yet often subconscious forces, can reinforce our boys' confidence in their identity as children of God through rediscovery of our own.
As we hear, wisdom in parenting often consists in learning what things to ignore. If wisdom begins in wonder, as we hear from Socrates, then perhaps our worries will end when we learn to view our children—even at their lowest points—with the wonder with which our heavenly Father views us.
Highlights
Further Reading
Compass: A Handbook on Parent Leadership by James B. Stenson
Also on The Forum
Toughness for the Adolescent Boy by Mr. Kyle Blackmer
In this episode, we speak with Michael about:
As we hear from Michael in the episode, it is not enough to present God’s plan for human love as a series of negative rules. What is needed, rather, is to form men and women who are prepared to embrace the positive adventure that love entails. We need to help our children be daring so that, when they are sent into the world, they will be prepared to live out that crusade of manliness which our world needs, and to undo the savage work of those who see man as merely a beast.
“To be happy,” wrote St. Josemaria, “what you need is not an easy life but a heart which is in love.” And, we might add, to have a heart in love is not the work of a single moment, but the task of a whole life. Indeed, this is the task of each day: to grow ever deeper in love.
Show Highlights
Further Reading
Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier
Decisive Parenting by Michael Moynihan
The Father and His Family by Michael Moynihan