Fear in Parenting

Parenting is hard. This is a reality. Even with an abundance of literature on how to raise a human, not one of us has it figured out. We face inevitable missteps, hurts, and struggles. Can we allow vulnerability in our own inadequacies to help us rely on the Spirit and support real community as we walk this road? K. B. Hoyle shares how the sitcom Kim’s Convenience helps encourage her on the journey: “No matter the culture, parents will always be parents, and the fears that cling to us that we might be doing irreversible damage to our children—whom we love more than life itself—reflect back to us in the best stories about families with children. Shows like Kim’s Convenience remind us that the vast majority of families struggle through pains and sufferings that are not small or insignificant for the ‘averageness’ of the family. As a parent and as a viewer, it is important for me to see depictions of families like this in the art I consume, whether on my television or elsewhere, because it reflects real life and the real race I have to run—the real pains I have to endure. It is a show that makes me feel not so very alone” (K. B. Hoyle, “Kim’s Convenience and Finding Solace in Imperfect Parenting,” Christ and Pop Culture, September 11, 2019, https://christandpopculture.com/kims-convenience-and-finding-solace-in-imperfect-parenting/).