How to be a faithful parent to your children

By Dickson Tumuramye

Faithfulness is a quality or trait of faithfulness and devotion to someone or something. It is the act of remaining committed to a person, a group, or a set of principles. It is a virtue that helps foster trust, build strong relationships, and promote a sense of stability and reliability. Faithfulness can take many forms, including loyalty, dependability, trustworthiness, and steadfastness.

To be faithful means to consistently and unwaveringly demonstrate loyalty, trustworthiness, and adherence to a set of beliefs or principles. It involves remaining committed to someone or something, even in challenging situations. In personal relationships, being faithful includes not betraying someone's trust or feelings and remaining loyal and dedicated to that person. As a parent, this should be upholding moral values, and fulfilling your obligations to your child.

What you believe in and stand for determines your worldview and perception of life. This may ultimately influence your dealing with your wife, children, and anyone else. Our children look at us through the lens of faithfulness. They trust us. They feel secure with us in life.  

They put a lot of confidence in us and we are the last person they think can betray them, something that is far away from their minds. For them, it's possible to betray us, but it doesn't come obvious to them that a parent can do the same to them.

A faithful parent is one who keeps his word all the time. If we make a promise, we should be able to fulfill it. If we fail, we should explain or communicate to the child because he/she is expectant. Failure to communicate puts a child in a corner to gauge your commitment and truthfulness to your word or action. If this happens more times, trust is slowly but steadily lost and it may take longer to regain it. They should hear you say and fulfill your word.

Also, our faithfulness to our children should come from our good relationship with them. It's occasional for true/close friends to disappoint each other. Each looks forward to being true to the other and this creates a room for free sharing and commitment to each other. Eventually, there is bonding.

Be faithful to their mother/father. When a child knows you as a faithful person to your spouse, they will find no open room to always fault around. Some will desire to be like you now and when they have families. Therefore, we should be good role models both in our words and actions. What they see and learn from us will be replicated in their lives tomorrow. Consequently, you are building and shaping someone's character directly or indirectly.

Be consistent in your dealings and be a man/woman of integrity. Children need to define their parents' position when it comes to matters of accountability and transparency. They should know that the Dad/Mom they have at home is the same outside of the home. That’s what makes you dependable and reliable in their lives.

They should learn from you how to respect others as you value them too. Respect their opinions as young adults. Let them feel that they also have room to contribute something, be involved in decision-making, and can solve something in their home or their parent’s life. When they feel they belong to that home or in your life, they will grow positive attitudes towards you.

Faithfulness is considered a valuable trait in many areas of life, as it contributes to building trust and strong relationships with our children. A faithful parent is one that fosters personal relationships and strong partnerships with the child/ren.

The writer is a child advocate, parenting coach, marriage counselor, and founder - Men of Purpose Mentorship Programme.

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Dickson Tumuramye is also a passionate speaker on:

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