What's considered a good parent?

I've often contemplated about this question. What is considered a good parent? I'm sure if you have kids, you have probably asked your self this question a million times over and over again and even if you don't, you probably thought about this before too.

Before I got married, I've always told myself that I'm going to try to be the best mom/parent to my kids as I can. That I was going to be a better parent than my parents ever was to me. I was going to discipline and have rules and chores, family meetings, family dinners and family gatherings/quality time, homework every night, etc. Boy, now that I have my own kids, it's not as easy as I imagine or thought it would. Imagining it was waaaaay to easy!

Now that I have kids of my own I realized that parenting is hard, super hard! I have 5 kids and they range from 15 1/2 to 4 years old. Through out the past, I've come to learn that each kid has to have different disciplining and each kid has to be talked to differently. You CAN'T just use one tactic on one child and expect it to work on another child...heck NO! It is true what they say, each kid learns differently and each kid has a mind of their own. With this being said, you ALWAYS have to watch what you're saying to your kids to avoid them thinking you are favoring one over the other.

I've always been scared that I'm not disciplining as much or too much or that I'm too strict or not as strict. You don't want to be too much and too less. So how do we do it? I just want to be able to do the right thing so that my kids stay in school, have goals in their life and be successful. By being to strict, your kid can't enjoy their friends or their time being a kid and they will want to rebel against you and do everything opposite of what you oppose to. By being to lenient, your kid will end up with the wrong crowd, party too much and end up dropping out of school or getting into some serious trouble and not listen to you. So what do we do? What makes parents a good parent? I guess as long as you have morale and some kind of rules/discipline you just try to be a good parent as you can be. I don't think any parent is perfect nor any family is perfect and I think that's what makes your family stronger.

Thinking back about what I thought about my parents and I'm NOT saying that they weren't good parents, they were. They just had different insight on how to be parents and they like me right now, just go with the flow and try to be the best they can be to what they know how to be. It's hard and there is no rule in a book that specifically states what you can do to be a better parent. You just have to listen to your kids, talk to them and spend time with them and love them. What more can you do really?

What kind of a parent are you? Are you strict or lenient? I would have to say that I'm both. I was really strict at first with my oldest one Selina but once she got into high school, I realized that when I was her age, I wanted to hang out with my friends and do teenager stuff. So, when thinking about this, I can understand her point of view/side and let her do stuff with her friends too. Of course she has curfews as well as rules, etc too so if she doesn't abide by these, there's grounding for her. I guess you just have to stand your ground for teenagers and not let them walk all over you. I want my kids to have everything that I didn't have when I was a kid but also not to the extent that they would rebel against me or be a spoiled brat too. I will not tolerate this at all.

Each parent has their own parenting skills so I just hope that with my parenting skills my kids will turn out at least decent. I don't expect them to be the president nor a doctor/lawyer but that at least they would TRY to become a better person for themselves. Parenting is hard and life is hard, not every child is the same so you just try to be the best parent that you can be.

Below: Husband and I when we first met.

 Who knew that along the road, we would have 5 kids?

 Above photo: My oldest daughter Selina Pa Chia 15 1/2 years old

 Above photo: Chyna Kashia 12 1/2 years old

 Above photo: Brandon Chonlin 10 1/2 years old

 Above photo: Paris Sanyia 6 1/2 years old

 Above photo: Princeton KoobHmoov  4 1/2 years old

Above photo: All of us together! I think this was the most recent photo of us together...which it has been about 3 years ago! Look at them, they've all grown up so much all ready.

Quotes below that I absolutely love:

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” santiz Dr. Seuss quotes

“Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires”

 Marcelene Cox quotes