There is a dangerous trend in parenting. Working in my field, I’ve actually seen it for years. Each year it gets a little stronger … A little worse. We have molded parenting theory and reshaped our society to accommodate it. And we are starting to pay a price.
And, simply, here it is: PARENTS, you need to BE PARENTS. YOU need to take charge. YOU need to call the shots. YOU need to open your eyes and see the reality of your child’s life.
How did we become a society of the entitled? By trends just like this. And I know some will read this and be angry with me. That’s okay. As a pastor, I have a job to do as well. And it is not always popular.
As a parent, you have experienced far more life than your child. Probably by now you have experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. You have experienced good fortune and times when life just wasn’t fair. You have seen the ups and you have seen the downs. Do you want to prepare your child to face REAL LIFE? Teach them about all of this. (Especially the part about life not always being fair…)
Make them go to school!! Make the live up to their commitments!! (One of the worst trends I see in North American culture RIGHT NOW is the trend of being committed until something better comes along. Teach them to be a person of THEIR WORD by being a person of YOUR WORD.)
Teach them to face up to problems and work them out instead of running from them. I am the CHIEF of hating confrontation, and yet now I see that it is necessary at times. But I know with all of my heart that the best thing I can teach my family is to face up to problems instead of running from them.
And, for goodness sake, BRING THEM TO CHURCH. If I could’ve talked my mom and dad out of making me go to church, I would’ve done it every time. Now I look back and I am thankful they could see through that!!!!
This is hard. And there will be times when you won’t be able to be their best friend. And that’s okay … That is part of being a parent. If you trust the Lord, use His Word as your guide, do your very best, and band together with other believers who are parents and facing the same work, YOU WILL MAKE IT. And you will NEVER regret it.
I am praying you will start TODAY!!!!
The Random Thinker 
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