In parenting, asking for forgiveness as a parent is imperative.

It strengthens not only the parent-child relationship but also both parties as the human beings we hope to become in the future.

Here are five amazing reasons why we, as parents, need to keep demonstrating and asking for forgiveness as we raise our children.

We ask for forgiveness because of the natural give-and-take that exists in any relationship.

According to one relationship website, give-and-take is natural in any relationship, romantic or platonic, because it promotes equality.

"Kind gestures and affection are returned, favors are exchanged, and each person generally feels like the other contributes to keeping their metaphorical cup full," one writer notes.

It's no different in parenting: I make you dinner, you give me a hug, I say I love you, and you make me a homemade card.

As one father writes, "Asking your child for forgiveness demonstrates that, as in all relationships, there is give and take."

In preparing children for adulthood, parents can honor their kids with the mutuality that naturally can and should happen in relationships. It often starts with parents going first, but that's not all.

We ask for forgiveness because it mends the rifts between us.

In spiritual writer Micha Boyett's latest release, Blessed Are the Rest of Us; she retells a story about an interaction with her then-fourth-grade son. Although the deadline for a major project on his part was looming close, he wanted to read his comic books more than he wanted to recreate a replica of the California missions.

I'm not sure why this particular child brings out the nastiest parts of me, my sarcasm the language of my sorrow. "Here's a plan!" I continue. "Fail fourth grade!" His face darkens, and I carry on. "I'm here. I want to help, and you don't care!" He keeps his eyes straight on mine, his foot inching toward one of the books he scattered the moment before. Kick.

As Boyett goes on to show, a merciful kind of change started to happen within her body when she stepped away from the scene. Eventually, she returns to her son and apologizes to him – and as she shows readers through dialogue in the remainder of the scene, her words eventually mend the rift between them.

We ask for forgiveness because it makes room for trust.

Similarly, just as saying I'm sorry mends the broken rifts that easily exist between a parent and child, uttering these words makes room for trust to enter into the relationship once again.

According to Alan Wachob, a husband and father, "Asking for and receiving forgiveness … allows us to trust again and move past hurts before they turn into hang-ups." As I've often experienced as a parent, asking my child for forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean that things are hunky-dory once again.

But it does mean both parties are back on track toward rightness and trust in the relationship. It does mean that parents are heading in the right direction, even if it takes a little bit of time to get there.

We ask for forgiveness because it improves our overall health.

It's one thing to ask children for forgiveness in an effort to repair the relational bonds that exist between us. It's an entirely different thing to recognize that the act of forgiveness actually helps a parent's physical and mental health, too.

According to one recent study, the act of forgiveness is critical in "lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression, and stress."

If that's not an incentive, what is?

We ask for forgiveness because it models who we want our children to become.

Part of any parent's job is to help their children leave the nest and guide them in the art of growing up. When it comes to thinking about who parents want their children to become, as much as one might wish success and prosperity for the next generation, a parent can also wish them to become good human beings. They can wish them kindness and empathy.

In this way, kindness and empathy toward others often start with the most fundamental relationships—the day-in, day-out relationship between parent and child.

Parents engage in forgiveness because it guides their children toward who they wish them to be in the future.

Whatever it is for you, might the bond between you and your child be strengthened as you ask for forgiveness, one I'm sorry at a time.