I am who I am today not because of the churches I attended, or the schools I attended, or the teachers who taught me, or the friends I hung with, though they all played a role, just not the primary role.
I am who I am because of my parents influence on me day in and day out!
I do believe that all of those and those I didn't mention, (employers, peers, culture, etc), played a large part in who I am today, no doubt! But I contend that who I am today primarily falls in the lap of my parents. I had wonderful parents who did their best. Yes they had issues in their lives but I knew they loved me. This is something I am extremely thankful for today!
Parents, we are our kids role model whether we like it or not. You want your kids to be honest, then you be honest! You want your kids to have a good work ethic, then you model a good work ethic, you want your kids to love God, then you model a life that loves God!
Kids attend school 9 months out of the year, which translates into roughly 180 days of school, and about 1,200 hours in class with the teacher. Parents spend pretty much 365 days with their kids and 3420 hours a year with their kids. Obviously the numbers change a bit according to parents schedule and the specific situation.
In my humble opinion, school, church, and employers should all compliment what we as parents have poured into our children’s hearts and minds, or at least help prepare them when they step out into the real world on their own.
Disclaimer time: If your kids are not making good decisions and have maybe gotten themselves into trouble this isn't necessarily a reflection on you. Kids make their own decisions that will sometimes fly contrary to everything we modeled and taught, so don’t be too discouraged. God was Adam and Eve's only role model and He was absolutely perfect and they still chose to disobey and eat the forbidden fruit so take heart!
I encourage us as parents with this; we definitely have better odds of our kids turning out right if we model for them what a loving life should look like. Not perfect but being real. Willing to admit our mistakes and walking in grace and mercy with each other. Not a life full of religion and rules with no purpose but a life full of relationship and destiny.
I’ve been a parent now for almost 12 years so I don’t have all the answers but I’d love to hear from you about how you deal with your children and this topic.
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