We had some friends from our congregation over on Wednesday night and we got on the subject of parenting. My wife and I are expecting our first child soon so the topic comes up frequently. Our guests made the usual kind of comments: "good luck with that," "I could never handle kids," or "I hate changing diapers." In general, it felt like their comments (and similar ones I have made in the past) were negative, flippant and probably didn't reflect how they really felt about children.
It seems common in my group of friends to act like this, saying what is expected, sounds funny or fits a stereotype. How often do I do that instead of saying what I really think or feel? My honest opinion is that one of the most important attributes of a parent is patience. It seems easy to skip over that and say something less sincere and less meaningful. I'm not saying that there isn't a place to be funny and make jokes, but perhaps we could all use a little more sincere conversation.
