What Dads Need to Do More...

Oh my…we had decided to make today a family day and take Anna & Bella to Holiday World. Fortunately for me, level heads prevailed and we because of the heat changed our plans to a day in Evansville. Eating, visiting the children’s museum, eating, movie, shopping, eating…it was a tough day (but I remain thankful!). The lesson I re-learned today was that the kids really didn’t care where we went, they just wanted to spend the time with Jill and me. It’s kind of like your child unwrapping an expensive present and then you catch them playing with the box (and enjoying it more than the present!). It’s really too bad, but many parents today have bought into Madison Avenue’s philosophy that kids need the biggest and the best if they are going to be normal, and they need even more of it to thrive. All they need is mom and dad’s guidance, care, love and attention. Unfortunately those are the very things many kids lack. Why? It’s hard work! My feet are killing me, but my heart rejoices! Scripture tells us to “train up a child in the way he should grow and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). People quote that text as a reason to teach their kids Scripture, but that is not what it is speaking of. Sure we need to teach children Scripture, but these verses speak of humility, generosity, a good name, and wickedness. It speaks of training them for life, and an important aspect of life is relationships. We also need to be modeling relationships for them, not the least of which is that of parent and child. How else will our children grow to be effective parents?