Proverbs 22:6; “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
The other day I was watching TV and a commercial came on. It was an advertisement for a type of cereal where two children find their dad in a car enjoying a bowl of this product. The children quiz their father to which his replies range from excuses to outright lies. Most of the advertisements for this cereal promote this type of behavior, and they expect people to laugh and think good thoughts. This made me think about how we are raising our children today.
Our loudest form of communication to our children is our actions. If we expect our children to tell the truth, we need to make sure our actions are honest ... not just our words. When we say we are going to do something, we need to do it.
One of my downfalls is being on time. If I say I will be there at 1:00 and I am not there until 1:10 then my word loses its credibility. The young ones pick up on this right away.
How about the way we treat people? A week-ago Wednesday was anti-bullying day and we tell our children to be nice, to stick up for the underdog, etc. What about the way we treat the driver in front of us that is going too slow by our standards? What expressions do we use then?
What about the jokes that we laugh at or the programs we watch on TV?
Do they promote loving one another?
Do we criticize how people dress or smell or think?
So many times I think we have a double standard. One standard for our kids and how we think they should be and one standard for us. In working in the restaurant industry I have seen many examples of this. We, as adults want our coffee right away, but our kids need to wait, (and patiently, I might add) for their drinks. We, as adults can order people around, but our children need to say please and thank you. You get the picture, I am sure.
It is our responsibility as parents to teach and train our children. We should not leave it up to the system or the schools or the neighbors or the relatives. No one is perfect, but we can do our best and generally our children will reflect that.
God bless you and help you to raise your children.
By Lynne Bode,
Christian Life
Assembly, Barriere, B.C.