A challenge to parents

Yesterday morning I had the privilege to dedicate two young children during service. I spoke on the topic briefly: “Bring them to Me”. While our roles as parents cannot be underestimated, especially as we guide our children along the pathway of life, we cannot forget that our roles are primarily to guide them in paths of righteousness.

My concern in recent months have been with the growing number of young adults who lack the ability to discern what the right choices are for their lives and to navigate their way through a mass of challenges. A growing concern is the fact that young people carry with them feelings of guilt, shame and insecurity which make them bad relationship partners and even worse, terrible spouses because they have not mastered the ability to manage their emotions effectively. If they don’t dominate their partners, they either cannot control their tongues nor can they show respect to others because they simply wish to have their way.

I have to ask myself what the reasons are for a generation who puts such a high value on material nothingness which is here today, but gone tomorrow. Why an individual would attach such a high value to a human being when it is God that should be at the centre of their being?  I have come to the conclusion, and this is merely my opinion, that parents ought to realize the mammoth task that we have in dealing with our own “stuff” if we are to produce children who are able to develop into mature well-rounded individuals. Parents should try less to be their children’s friends, but to be their parent first. Too often parents get this wrong. It ought to be the other way around. We cannot follow the silly popular culture and yet our children cannot be “real” in a world that has no problem in showing us what reality means. 

I admit that not everything can be laid at the door of parents as society as a whole should be seen as part and parcel of a person’s socialization. It is however the parent that needs to realize that once that child leaves your home in order to start a family, they are in fact the ones who have been tooled largely by what we teach them. Unless we connect the dots, the generation of parents to come will seem even more wayward than we are already.