"S" is for...

...SUPPORT.

That's what we as parents do for our children. We support and nurture them. The support is from many dimensions—emotional, physical (including financial, basic needs, etc.) and spiritual—but like unconditional love it is a given.

As we look at TRUST in the raising of our children, a lot comes back to mentoring and modelling behaviours that we as parents exhibit so that our children grow into capable, caring contributors to community (Michael Ungar's terminology). By giving unconditional love and support, our children learn from the mentor—the parent—what it feels like to have the support and love in life and therefore is able to give that same sense to others as they mature.

Just as many abused children may become abusers, a child who has grown in a household that is based upon TRUST becomes a trusted individual in personal and family relationships as well as in the greater community.

In my next blog I will conclude with what I feel is an essential "T".