Monday, June 7, 2021
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7
No Greater Influence?
As children, there is no greater influence in our lives as our home and family. For better or worse, where we come from shapes us. It is not the only thing that shapes us, but our home and family is a big part of who we are. As parents, we want to do the very best we can for our children. The pressure has never been greater for parents with the influence of social media. The comparison trap and the pressure to measurne up to everyone else’s perfect Instagram life is real. Even if people are being pretty vulnerable, the stress comes from seeing what other children that are the same age as your children, are doing. Or more specifically, how they are developing compared to your child. The fact is that all children are different. None of them are exactly alike and if your child does not cut a tooth or start walking at the same time as 89% of all the other kids her age on Instagram, its okay! Socail media puts a crazy amount of stress of all of us.
Beyond keeping them fed, watered and sheltered, what are some ways parents care for and influence their kids?
- Loving Them – (This does not mean liking them) Real parental love is not giving your children what they want but what they need. Tough love is a real thing. It is important for children to learn that there are consequences to their choices. If we save them from the consequences all the time, they will never learn to think about the decisions they are making before they make them.
- Lifting Them – Children need encouragement more than praise. They need to know that they are loved and adored. They need adults to pour into them and believe in them. They need to be told that you believe in them.
- Limiting Them – Setting healthy limits for them to learn responsibility - Protecting them, but also letting them learn from their mistakes.
- Leading Them – Involves teaching truth and training; teaching without training is to fail in the task
- Laughing with Them – Make your home a place of joy & laughter.
Doing all these things well add to the influence we have with our families. Kids know when we are howing love and support to them and are more likely to listen to someone they know cares about them. We have to be intentional if we are going to be the greatest influence in our kids lives. Satan wants first place and he works hard at influencing our children whenever he gets the chance. His values and the worlds values are contradictory to our beliefs and we must work to make sure our children are not swept away by the illusion they present. If we parent with purpose, we will have a better chance of being a greater influence in our kid’s lives than Satan and the world.
