Let’s be honest. There are a lot of terrifying things about being a parent. Just the whole keeping them alive and relatively healthy thing can be a challenge at times. Yet, I think the thing that has always terrified me the most is some day my daughter might reject God. In fact, if I even let the thought enter my brain as a remote possibility for more than a few seconds, I get weepy.
I always get angry when preachers and youth minsters make it sound as if it is a given young people will turn their backs on God when they are young adults. According to them, the only hope is that your children will return once they marry and have kids. Yet, I have known plenty of young adults, who not only stayed faithful, but lived their faith, served others and shared their faith in their teens and 20’s. Unfortunately though, those ministers are right more than they are wrong. Studies show most kids will leave God when they leave home… and both for the rest of their lives.
What can you do to prevent your child from leaving God? There are no insurance policies, because your child has free choice and so do all of the people with whom they come in contact. You can greatly improve the odds your child will not only stay faithful, but grow to become a godly, servant leader in the church. You just need to remember this one tip.
If you have lived in or visited a major urban area recently, you may have noticed a sign that read “See Something, Say Something”. Designed to encourage citizens to report information that could help authorities prevent a terrorist attack, the phrase could also be the best Christian parenting advice I can give you.
Have you ever sat down with a group of moms? On a good day, it can be a lot of fun laughing and celebrating all things parenting. On many days, however, the conversation spirals into complaints and even whining. Now as a card carrying optimist, I’m not usually given to negative thinking for very long, but even I have days when it seems life has drained the joy out of my world.
God’s love for us is at the very root of Christianity. I’m sure you are teaching your kids to love others. Love is complicated though. It’s not just butterflies in your stomach or finding a friend who enjoys the same things you do. True agape love is loving people even when you have nothing in common with them. It’s the ability to love people even if you don’t particularly like them at the moment. It’s even what makes it possible to love our enemies.
Years ago, most people lived their entire lives within a few miles of where they were born. If they did move, often one or more members of their extended family would travel with them. Parents had the support of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and others in raising their children. The important role wasn’t back up child care, but reinforcing family values.