Kid Collages: And a personal note

I was just thinking...

If my kids ever stopped a life-style

of smiling,

and jumping,

and laughing,

and loving...

I would not look at them and say "what is their problem?"

 

I would look at myself and ask, "What am I doing wrong?" 

That's parenting 101.

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God gave us our children ~ not a mistake ~ but an opportunity to bring some more life into an otherwise dark and dreary world

... and into our own lives. 

~~~~

Personal note: I don't mean to oversimplify parenting or anything of that nature. I know there are a thousand different scenarios where difficulties arise for parents and they have done all they can. I've talked to parents of adopted children, for example, who gave them nothing but love and yet they became rebellious. I myself even became rebellious after my parents did nothing but love me and do the best to show me Christ. The bottom line is children grow up one day and exercise their free will. I understand that. 

However, I still believe in the statement above, and I'm mainly just having a personal realization -- which is how we so often fail to look at ourselves, as parents, and consider that we might be the problem. I know it's tough to do so. My kids are young but already I see these things springing to the surface in them, things which I KNOW come from ME! That's rough. Most of the time I don't even want to admit it. Instead I ask myself, 


'Why are they so hyper?'                             'Why the defensiveness?'
                                     'Why so forget-full?'


I ask these questions as if I don't know the answer -- 
they have inherited those things from me! Ouch. 
We can pray our kids grow up and don't have our weaknesses. But either way...
 
It's time to go find the child and do one very important thing -- REPENT! 


It's doesn't have to be anything fancy. My own parents apologized on more than one occasion for "passing down" things to me. I can't tell you how incredibly good that felt. Not that I was holding anything against them, but just that they were so real and so honest. It's given me confidence to apologize to my own children, even with them being still young. And I can see it in their eyes when they connect the dots that daddy is not perfect. It's very powerful.