Make It Personal!

I'm quoting again. This book has some good words though. Check out this segment by Reggie Joiner in a chapter about making it personal with kids:

Kids already have a front-row seat to their parents' lives; the question is, what are they watching? Is it just a show? Or is it real-life adventure where they see courage and passion to overcome personal obstacles? Parents must show them what it is like to pursue a better relationship with God. Show them what a committed, loving marriage looks like. Show them how it looks to prioritize Jesus above anything else. Show them what it is like to reject the materialism and consumerism of this world. If parents want their children to have it in them, they have to see it demonstrated.

Kids need to see their parents
struggle with answers,
face their weaknesses,
deal with real problems,
admit when they are wrong,
fight for their marriage,
resolve personal conflict.

Children need to see their parents make relational, emotional, and spiritual growth a priority. If parents don't make it personal, it may never be personal for their kids. Some of my favorite stories through the years have been told by children of single parents who watched their moms or dads overcome difficult obstacles. Don't forget that God is writing a story in the hearts of parents, a story of redemption and restoration. One of the most powerful things that children can see is God at work in the lives of their parents, but they can't see who their parents are becoming if they never see who they were in the first place. Otherwise, how will they know the difference God has made and continues to make in their parents' lives? It is the firsthand look at that difference that will give them hope for their future and faith in what God can do in them.

Uber challenging. I am noticing as I parent my son that I always try to be my best around him. If I curse my first response is to cover it up and pretend I didn't rather than just apologize and tell him why it frustrates me that I do that. When I'm having a bad day I ignore him or hide my face from him rather than just talk about how I'm feeling. On the days when I just let it all out - we have the coolest conversations. Being vulnerable with our kids - letting them into us. That's how I want to live. I hope we'll be friends later in life because of it, and I hope more that He sees the God of the universe playing out in me (somehow, someway).