Giving Thanks

Give thanks in all circumstances

Parenting 101

I recently had the opportunity to take my 12 year old son on a hunting trip to Wyoming with a group of friends. We had the pleasure of making some new friends and bonding more closely with the friends we already had. I remember telling my wife as we were leaving that this trip (and in some ways every hunting trip) would be great for father and son, and would provide us with life-long stories to tell of our adventures while hunting. I can honestly say that my son is already a better hunter than me. As much as that may hurt my selfish pride, I can tell you that it is was incredible to be the first person to get a high five followed by a big hug when he shot his first mule deer that day.

Now why would I mention all of that under the title of Parenting 101? Let me explain further. I believe that as parents it is our responsibility to teach, train, equip, and correct our children in "the way that they should go" (Proverbs 22:6). I personally do not believe that you can substitute quality time for quantity time when it comes to training. What I mean by that is that for me to say that one hour with my son is better than 4 hours with him is silly. The more time I spend with my children the more opportunities I have to share my experience, life lessons, truth, consequences, etc. Now I am not saying that there are not some great things that we need to do with our children that don't require a lot of time in themselves. But I am suggesting that we as parents stop justifying our busy schedules and make time to be with our children. It is easy to become a slave to some really good things, and miss the really great thing of raising our children to love God and to love others.

I have also come to realize that when I get the opportunity to spend an extended amount of time with one of my children that I discover a lot about what is going on in their world that I don't get by just checking Facebook or MySpace or a quick question about the day. That is why I believe that while we still can as parents we need to invest as much time with our children as possible, because I know the day is coming all too fast when they will be out on their own, and I'll have to adjust to their schedules, jobs, families, and friends. Take time this week to go for walk, ride a bike, play a game, sit on the porch, fish, hunt, play catch, cook, shop or whatever it is that you and your children enjoy doing together.