I was thinking about our girls the other day and about the bigger picture. Eventually they will grow up and become adults and face really tough situations. Eventually they will have to make hard decisions, decide how to react to things and choose a direction. It seems so far off right now but thats ok because it means we have the next ‘however many’ years to prepare them for what life will throw at them.
Sounds very depressing to think about the harder things they will face but its true (and I’m a realist as opposed to being a pessimist). If we (hubby and I) don’t take our part of their future seriously, as well as preparing them for the more practical things then I feel that I would be being neglectful in my parenting (just me and my thoughts about myself, not about others).
For example, its fine to teach them to cook, how to budget, how to save, how to drive a car etc… but what about how to react when they are struggling? What about how to treat other people in circumstances where they are blindsided? What about how to rely on God, I mean REALLY rely on God.
That last one is one of the most important things that I want to teach them. Its something my parents taught me and I want to pass it on. As I said in a guest post over at Narelle’s blog last month:
“I grew up in a household where trusting God for every day things was the norm. My parents worked for a Christian newspaper in which ‘wages’ were given if available through supporting donors. It was a great way to grow up, every time we needed something my parents first port of call was prayer. We prayed for food, we prayed for money, we prayed about situations that were challenging and so I learnt to pray myself, and to trust God.”
Now our situation isn’t the same as it was for my parents…..yet. This doesn’t mean that we can’t teach them this lesson too. I want it to become so ‘normal’ to them to go to God first and so deeply embedded that it becomes a life skill.
Being a parent is very hard work. Its full of responsibility, worry, joy, sadness, battles, tiredness and fun. I hope I can look back in many years to come and not have regret about how I parented my girls (but the realist in me knows that I, like most of us will probably have regrets). The best thing I can do for them as I go along is to pray for them.
