Parenting Is Hard On the Heart

Today’s guest post is by my son, Samuel Rainey, husband of Stephanie and dad to four kids ages 15 to almost 7. Samuel is my third born, whose birth was by far my most difficult delivery, yet his life ushered into my world a son of delight whose presence makes me smile every time I see his face, hear his voice on the phone, or am the recipient of a simple text.

One of my all time favorite quotes by author Jean Fleming says, “Every child is a piece of a mother’s heart walking around outside her body.” Today six pieces of my heart reside in three different states and I’ve learned distance does not diminish my heart connections. Neither does their age lessen my passionate love and desire for their well being.

As I’ve been writing last month and this on parenting as Dennis and I launch our new book, The Art of Parenting, I’m super excited to introduce my son to you in this post as he writes that it’s not just moms whose hearts are irretrievably linked to their kids, but dads, too, give away their hearts to their little ones.


Ask any parent, and they’ll agree: Parenting is hard. As my 4 year old was running away from me the other night, screaming at me as he ran, I realized why this relationship is so hard: My personal desire to be safe is threatened by my kids.

I’ve invited and brought these little humans into the world. I’ve fed them, hugged them, disciplined them, and have done my best to love them. Ultimately, though, what I have given them is a part of me. They walk and run around this world with my heart draped over their shoulders.

The reality of being unsafe with them comes alive in moments of panic. When my 9-month old is choking on something he’s found under the dining room table, I become aware that his life contains a part of me that I’ll never have back. If he goes away, so does his portion of my heart. It’s why a child’s scream of terror or pain makes me move with the speed of a superhuman. When my son falls off the the top bunk bed at night, I’m in his room quicker than his tears.

My heart is with them, and I am not safe. They will do as they please. They have the same free-will as I do,  and I really don’t like them for that. In fact, I often resent them for being human. Sometimes, I wish they were robots, doing as I say, playing nice, and behaving on behalf of what’s right. I want them to be safe, so I can be safe.

But really, safety is just an illusion. Our cars have airbags, but at 75 mph on an interstate, compressed air isn’t going to keep me safe. An airplane has seat belts, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m in a rocket with wings going 500 miles per hour 30,000 feet above the ground. I lock my house at night, but a deadbolt is not going to keep a tornado at bay, nor the rising waters of a flood.

Much of life is building and creating supports that give us the illusion of feeling safe. Kids don’t factor into that illusion. This realization is clearly understood by most parents. Kids are humans, and they’re going to do what they think is best, or whatever pleases them. There’s nothing I can do to really be in control of them. This reality coupled with the gift of my heart to them creates a mess. If I want to be safe, I must control them; if I am okay not being safe, I must find a way to cope with inevitable pain. This is a sobering truth for every parent.

It’s sobering, because I know that I often try to control them. I try to get them to stop smacking their food, stop eating pizza on the couch, and stop fighting as they brush their teeth. When I realize that I can’t control them, I get jealous (Hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right?). I’m jealous that they get to be the kids and I have to be the grown-up.

I think life as an adult is lived within the infamous 80-20 rule: Eighty percent is doing things we have to do, and 20 percent is doing things we want to do. That equation is the opposite for kids. To be an adult, we cannot play 80 percent of the time like our kids. And this is a big problem for most of us adults. We don’t want to do the 80% work that life requires. We want easy, and 80% work is not easy. The result … numbed-out adults.

Kids aren’t numb (depressed), rather they feel and express. Kids’ expressiveness in life challenges adult depression and adult self-absorption. Adults want to go to sleep, figuratively, and when a kid wakes them, we adults feel a rage of being roused from the comfy sleepy world of depressed self-absorption. Getting angry at a kid for being curious, playful, and expressive is like getting mad at water for being wet, shapeless, and messy.

This is why parenting is so hard: As a parent, I can’t keep my kids from being kids and I can’t always keep them safe, which means I will suffer and hurt when they do.  Our children invite us to see the world through untamed eyes. It’s both wonderful and frightful. Parenting is about helping kids become adults tomorrow while holding onto the hope, wonder, curiosity, and awe they live with today.

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13 thoughts on “Parenting Is Hard On the Heart”

  1. What a great read! And I still feel like this toward my adult children. I’m so very thankful for the wonderful loving husbands and dads they are, not perfect, but, oh, they still delight me :) I think I’ll forward this to them.

  2. As a grandmother often concerned about my grandkids growing up in such a world as it is these days, thank you for shedding light into what it really is all about. Thank you Rainey family for being a lighthouse in this dark world!

  3. I am loving these blog posts from your children. Deborah’s article was outstanding & I am enjoyinh hosting Samuels too. Thank you Rainey family for sharing your lives with the world . Your impact is reaching the millennial generation. God Bless you all! Keep writing. We are reading.

  4. Well spoken, Samuel, and so accurate. As a Grandpa I feel for my son and his crew of four ( 2g then 2b) who leave him daily delighted and exhausted. He fears home calls (to his business office) as it usually tells of which kid is at clinic or worse, the emergency room. We so enjoy seeing our son & daughter in law regularly with their active Christian home.
    Maybe your writing skills and leadership will result, with your 5 siblings, in a tribute volume for your folks 50th. [Thanks Mrs. Barb for this item] Samuel, I
    wish you & your wife courage, strength and blessings from our Lord!

  5. I could never have gathered all that my heart feels into one article. You perfectly summed up what I feel, but have never been able to put down on paper. You nailed it!!!!
    Thank you.

  6. Loved this, Samuel. I can see you wrapping your heart over the shoulders of your beautiful brood. Love the image, and you!

  7. How very true are your remarks…..years ago, I had read the saying of holding our child’s hand while they always hold our hearts……hey, I’m 75 and have lost that little boy (to heaven, I pray), but besides my Beautiful!daughter, now it’s the two sooo special grandssons! But, oh how I praise the LORD GOD for them!

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