Children: A Parent’s Responsibility
Notes from a man TRYING to make Mom’s life easier while she is sick in bed...
Monday A.M.
Dearest: Sleep late. Everything under control. Lunches packed. Kids off to school. Menu for dinner planned. Your lunch is on a tray in refrigerator: fruit-cup, finger-sandwiches. Thermos of hot tea by bedside. See you around six.
Tuesday A.M.
Honey: Sorry about the egg rack in the refrigerator. Hope you got back to sleep. Did the kids tell you about the Coke I put in the thermoses? The school might call you on this. Dinner may be a little late. I’m doing your door-to-door canvas for liver research. Your lunch is in refrigerator. Hope you like leftover chili.
Wednesday A.M.
Dear Doris: Why in the name of all that is sane would you put soap powder in the flour canister! If you have time, could you please come up with a likely spot for Chris’s missing shoes? We’ve checked the clothes hamper, garage, back seat of the car and wood box. Did you know the school has rules about bedroom slippers? There’s some cold pizza for you in a napkin in the oven drawer. Will be late tonight. Driving eight Girl Scouts to tour meat-packing house.
Thursday A.M.
Doris: Don’t panic over water in hallway. It crested last night at 9 P.M. Will finish laundry tonight. Please pencil in answers to following:
1. How do you turn on the garbage disposal? I thought it was automatic. Guess not.
2. What do you do with leftovers when they begin to snap at you when you open the refrigerator door? I don’t know what you’re having for lunch! Surprise me!
Friday A.M.
Hey: Don’t drink from pitcher by the sink. Am trying to restore pink dress shirt to original white. Take heart. Tonight, the ironing will be folded, house cleaned and dinner on time...I called your mother.
Yes, Moms you do have job security and accomplish more than everyone realizes. As a parent you have a great responsibility and this morning I would like to talk about our responsibility to our children.
I. The Parent’s Responsibility
a. We have a responsibility to nurture our children. (Eph. 6:4)
Webster’s: 1. To feed; to nourish.
2. To educate; to bring or train up.
3. The influences that modify the expression of an individual’s heredity.
b. We have a responsibility to protect our children.
c. We have a responsibility to teach our children. (Deut. 6:7)
d. We have a responsibility to discipline our children.
II. The Truth About Children
a. They are depraved. (Rom. 3:10, 23; Prov. 22:15)
b. They are naturally rebellious.
c. They are self-absorbed. “World revolves around me.”
i. Begins that way, called “survival”
ii. Continues that way, called “selfishness”
d. They are pliable
III. The Danger Zone
a. The danger of looking the other way.
• “kids will be kids”
• “It’s not that serious”
• “It’s just a phase”
• “They’ll be ok”
1. It does not work in any other area of life.
a) Laws of the universe: scaffold builder – “It doesn’t matter if I’m not careful where I walk.”
b) Area of physical health – “I don’t need to do anything about that tumor. After all, the doctor says it’s pretty small right now.”
c) The workplace – board operator
b. The dangers in the world
1. Music
a) Vulgarity
b) Explicit sexual references
c) Children being negatively programmed
a. (no cash ill.)
b. Don’t have to obey
c. No restraints
d. Modern secular music is the anthem of hedonism
2. Internet
a) Chat rooms (MySpace.com; Xanga (weblog community)
b) Predators
c) Negative influence
d) Lose innocence
3. T.V.
4. Friends
IV. The Prescription
a. “Be” before you do
i. Be right with God before you try to lead your children
ii. Practice what you preach
b. Start Early
i. Start disciplining early
ii. Teach boundaries early
iii. Expect obedience (appropriate for maturity level)
c. Be consistent
d. Don’t give up
All the teaching that exists in the world today on child rearing distilled is: “Just hold on, you’ll get through it.”
Moms, through diligence you will be able to make a lasting positive difference.
Thomas Edison once said,
“I did not have my mother long, but she cast over me an influence which has lasted all my life. The good effects of her early training I can never lose. If it had not been for her appreciation and her faith in me at a critical time in my experience, I should never likely have become an inventor.
I was always a careless boy, and with a mother of different mental caliber, I should have turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her goodness, were potent powers to keep me in the right path. My mother was the making of me. The memory of her will always be a blessing to me.”
