Parenting books and articles are full of lists of things to do to be a great parent. The assumption is that if you can check everything off of the list, you will have children who grow into becoming wonderful, successful adults. Christian publications are not immune either, as you can see by all of the tips in this blog over the years.
People love lists – especially if those lists can help them be a better person or in this case parent. They come with the promise that if you can just complete the list, you will achieve your goal. In Christian parenting, the stakes are even higher. We feel an added burden to raise children who worship and serve God all the days of their lives. It would be wonderful if someone could guarantee us if we checked things off of some list our kids would be productive Christians.
Here’s the secret no list writer will tell you. They are successful not because of the list, but because the list represents who they are at their core. They can work the list and make it work because the list represents things they do because the goal of the list is so important to them it has become their identity.
It doesn’t really matter if you are reading this post the day it went on the website or days, months or even years later. The world is filled with evil and lots of people who are more than willing to act in incredibly evil ways. Sometimes, they conduct their evil under the pretense of it being what God wanted them to do.
Gratitude gets a lot of attention in November and December. Between Thanksgiving which for many is a time of giving thanks and the quickly approaching Christmas which can bring out greed in the sweetest child, many parents struggle how to raise children who are truly grateful all year.
It happened again today. An article in a popular women’s magazine was counseling parents about how to manage sibling conflict. What was the number one suggestion? Let them figure it out on their own without intervening. Are you kidding me?!