Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.
Proverbs 3:3-4 (NLT)
What words of wisdom for every parent to pass on to their children. As summer comes to a close, we are gearing up for football, schoolwork, and all that the fall brings with it. We are so blessed to have the benefit of all four seasons. Fall is always welcomed because of cooler temperatures, school activities, and sports.
Let’s consider the game of football. As little as I know about the game, I do know that if the offense is doing its job and the team is scoring points, it’s a lot easier on the defense and a win is most likely. Let’s apply that concept to parenting. If we position ourselves offensively, it makes for less work defensively. A “child” is called a child because they still need our help, advice and counsel. When our children become “adult” children, that is the time we can relax our parenting efforts. Remember the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
We have a great opportunity and privilege to be actively involved in our child’s life. We won’t get this day, this month, or this year again. They need our help in organizing their priorities and effective use of their time, talents, and abilities. Sometimes we allow too much distance between our lives and theirs, and it creates a great chasm that is hard to bridge later.
Children thrive where there is structure and clear expectations. Proverbs 19:20: “Get all the advice and instruction you can, and be wise the rest of your life.”
Setting aside sufficient time for homework, nutritional meals, and sufficient rest will go far to ensure your child’s success in their school year. Our children benefit greatly when we walk alongside them and look over their shoulder at the choices they are making. This is “boot camp” for training them to establish priorities and disciplines that will make them successful at the next level. “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them,” Proverbs 3:27.
If we don’t train them, who will? How will they learn? Every child, no matter their age or personality, needs the help and advice of their parents. Even when they appear to want to push you away, they really don’t.
Parents have a tendency to be subjective. We love our children so much and know them so well that we often fail to see them through the eyes of others. The result is we sometimes fail in giving the right instruction and feedback that help them to grow and develop appropriately. Engage now with them in planning a successful end to summer and a great start to fall. Purposely be a second set of eyes and ears of what demands are put on them.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
