Recently an elementary school teacher shared they were getting suicide prevention training, because suicide rates for children were rising so drastically. There are many reasons for the rise in suicides, but one contributing factor is often that the person has lost all hope. While raising hope-filled kids won’t guarantee they will never commit suicide or harm themselves in other ways, it does greatly improve the chances they will be less likely to feel there is no hope in their lives or their worlds.
Although some children seem to be more naturally hope-filled than others, any child can become more hopeful when taught some important principles and skill sets. While there are probably many things you can do to give your kids hope, here are a few of my favorites:
Gift giving to kids always fascinates me. There are the families who encourage their kids to ask for donations to charity instead of gifts for themselves. There are families who have a three or four gift limit. There are grandparents who shower kids in presents. There are uncles, aunts and friends who purposely seek out the most annoying gifts possible for your kids in order to amuse themselves.
I blame Norman Rockwell. Or maybe the Saturday Evening Post. Somehow they took a holiday that was created to be about families thanking God for His blessings and created a competitive holiday. Don’t believe me? Take a look at your local magazine rack. Thanksgiving issues are all about having the best turkey or sides ever. The photos are absolutely stunning, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a turkey come out of the oven even closely resembling those.
If you believe sitcoms, sex is the topic most parents want to avoid talking about with their kids. It’s unfortunate really, because as recent events have shown, handling sexual desires in ways that aren’t pleasing to God can cause a myriad of negative consequences. In fact, ungodly sexual behaviors have destroyed not only the careers of politicians, Hollywood types and more, but often their lives and families as well.
When I was a young teen, my older girl friends at church would tell me they often got the most pressure to ignore God’s commands for sexual purity from the Christian guys they dated. I thought it was rather strange at the time, but when I started dating, I found much of the same dynamic. As I dated more, I realized part of the reason why this often happened.