The Ten Commandments of Parenting

A parent who brings a child to this world has accepted upon himself/herself the responsibilities of raising that child to be a happy, healthy and stable adult. This axiomatic idiom has been an unfortunate causality of today’s society. In America today only 63% of children grow up together with both biological parents. As Jews we heed the Torah’s requirement to educate our children but also benefit from the Torah’s guidelines of how to educate them. In this presentation we have selected ten of the Torah’s core pedagogical lessons. Namely:

1. Thou shall parent.
2. Thou shall individualize your parenting as per the unique nature of your child.
3. Thou shall parent with the long term view.
4. Thou shall love your child and express it.
5. Thou shall boost your child’s self esteem.
6. Thou shall teach by example.
7. Thou shall discipline and demand infrequently but with consistency.
8. Thou shall collaborate with your partners.
9. Thou shall not make your parenting an arena for your own negative character traits.
10. Thou shall not be obstinate.

Come and hearken to the presentation that caused one participant to exclaim: “I wish I heard this seven years ago”.