What are we teaching our kids? What are we teaching our ADULT kids? Have you made a public profession of continuing to be their parent OR do you think they really aren't paying attention?
Sounds weird, eh? Yeah, I know. But hear me out.
Parents preach what they want from kids but do they actually DO rather than just preach? I've often thought that being a parent is like being a Pastor of a church...or is it the other way around, I wonder. Anyway, God gives us these wonderful little people to love and teach so that they can do the same for their children. Instead, kids react to what they SEE rather than HEAR.
Jesus told us to get the LOG out of our own eye before we can tell our brother to get the speck out if his [Matt 7:3-5]. Excellent advice, I'd say. But few take it.
Then, are parents just a spring of advice or are they doers? Obviously, we should be both. Before I came to Christ many years ago and a parent, I preached all kids of stuff to the kids without backing it up. Most parents do. We see the freight train coming, we feel the storm about to erupt, WE KNOW. But what kids remember is quite a bit different of us parents trying to keep them out of a busy street with cars speeding toward them.
After I became a Christian, ALL of these things became crystal clear. I spoke it, didn't do it, and neither did my kids....then or now. So, I had to get my credibility back as their parent and keep it as a Christian. After all, God is who I have to answer to, ultimately.
When our adult kids do dumb stuff, bad things, or get caught up in another's web, they come out swinging remembering what they thought was 'cool dad' or 'fun mom' instead of the real deal life issues we tried to tackle when they were little. I guess what I'm trying to say is that parents will get the blunt end of everything, we have to persevere, the kids have to redirect their pain and suffering, and in the meantime we have to not be hurt by their disparity or disinterest or disbelief in us. The blame game is getting very old.
Life isn't Nintendo. Remember when a Nintendo game made everything better? Ahhhh the 80's; no smartphones, no computers, no tablets, NO SOCIAL MEDIA! But even back then we left them in front of that game like some kind of cheap babysitter hoping for 'the best'. It made them happy then, but the 'best' came and went and left one heck of a mess.
Just like you and everyone else, I am still parenting adult kids - but this time I'm doing it with the help of God, trusting God, and showing them the love OF God for themselves and their lives.
God is really is the only way to having successful adult kids so they can have their own extraordinary families.
Sounds weird, eh? Yeah, I know. But hear me out.
Jesus told us to get the LOG out of our own eye before we can tell our brother to get the speck out if his [Matt 7:3-5]. Excellent advice, I'd say. But few take it.
Then, are parents just a spring of advice or are they doers? Obviously, we should be both. Before I came to Christ many years ago and a parent, I preached all kids of stuff to the kids without backing it up. Most parents do. We see the freight train coming, we feel the storm about to erupt, WE KNOW. But what kids remember is quite a bit different of us parents trying to keep them out of a busy street with cars speeding toward them.
After I became a Christian, ALL of these things became crystal clear. I spoke it, didn't do it, and neither did my kids....then or now. So, I had to get my credibility back as their parent and keep it as a Christian. After all, God is who I have to answer to, ultimately.
When our adult kids do dumb stuff, bad things, or get caught up in another's web, they come out swinging remembering what they thought was 'cool dad' or 'fun mom' instead of the real deal life issues we tried to tackle when they were little. I guess what I'm trying to say is that parents will get the blunt end of everything, we have to persevere, the kids have to redirect their pain and suffering, and in the meantime we have to not be hurt by their disparity or disinterest or disbelief in us. The blame game is getting very old.
Life isn't Nintendo. Remember when a Nintendo game made everything better? Ahhhh the 80's; no smartphones, no computers, no tablets, NO SOCIAL MEDIA! But even back then we left them in front of that game like some kind of cheap babysitter hoping for 'the best'. It made them happy then, but the 'best' came and went and left one heck of a mess.
Just like you and everyone else, I am still parenting adult kids - but this time I'm doing it with the help of God, trusting God, and showing them the love OF God for themselves and their lives.
God is really is the only way to having successful adult kids so they can have their own extraordinary families.
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