PARENT-TEACHERS

Parents are teachers by default. We teach our children how to walk and talk, how to work and play, how to give and take. We also teach them our habits (good and bad), fears (healthy and unhealthy), and much of the intricacies that make us who we are. I don't know how many times I've heard the phrase, "You are your father's son," or "You are your mother's daughter." What we do as examples sticks a lot more than we realize sometimes. And sometimes we influence our kids in ways we didn't consider.

For example, the parent who won't allow their teenager to go on the school trip because they will be flying and the parent is afraid of flying. In the teen's mind, "Flying should be an awesome experience, but I won't know that until I'm out of this house." Then, once that teen is out of the house and on their own, they develop an intense fear of flying because they don't know what to expect and it just seems crazy that a machine that big can get up in the air and stay there and what if it crashes and we're all gonna die and...

On the other hand, we do teach our children good things. Let's say the same parents have always been very frugal and responsible with money, saving what needs to be saved, spending only what needs to be spent, investing enough to make the money work for them instead of them working for the money, and giving enough away to make a huge difference. The teen has always seen money treated this way and learns by watching Mom and Dad to follow suit. As a result, the teen grows up to be a responsible and generous adult who teaches his children to handle money the same way.

So, now it's time to take stock of the example we set.

What are you teaching your children?

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

I WANTED TO PUNCH A KID IN THE FACE

(Disclaimer: I DID NOT punch anyone in the face...or anywhere else.)

We were standing in the check-out line at the grocery store today and quite possibly the single most rude child I've ever seen was standing in front of us with his mother. This little boy, maybe age 12 or so, had short blond hair, iPod earbuds in one ear, and an attrocious attitude. The entire time we were in line behind them, he was yelling (literally yelling) at his mom about how stupid she was - how she wasn't using the self-check-out machine correctly, how she was so slow, how she didn't sign her name on the credit card reader. I stared the kid down the entire time, but he never looked at me. I soooo wanted to walk up to him, punch him in the mouth, and say, "Do you know who this woman is? She's the woman who brought you into this world, provided food, clothing, and shelter for you, gave you all kinds of nice things, like that iPod you have jammed in your head like a fool, and this is how you repay her? I ought to beat some Jesus into you myself, but I'll let her do that for me. You had best learn some respect, and quickly, before you mess around and get yourself killed!"

But I didn't.

Steph wouldn't let me. She loves me too much to see me go to jail for beating up a child. If she hadn't been standing between him and me, though, things just might have been different...

And what was worse, the mom just stood there and took it! I wanted to tell her to beat her child! That's the problem with parents these days: they are so afraid of getting in trouble, and the government is so deep into the parents' business, that parents have lost their backbones. Stephanie was about to go Madea on both the mom and the kid: "You wanna call CPS? I'll call 'em myself!" I really wish she would have... it would've been awesome!

The moral of the story is three-fold:

1. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Eph. 6:1

2. "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Prov. 22:6

3. "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Prov. 13:24 (or, in the paraphrase of "Pops" from Tyler Perry's House of Payne, "Get the rod, whoop the child!")

Seen any kids acting a fool lately?

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate