I was listening to the radio this morning.
Yes, I love talk radio while I do morning chores.
They were talking about children and how much they cost today. They talked about nannies, schools, after school care, extra curricular activities including all the sports and personal coaching/training, ect.
It got me thinking.
Who is raising the children?
Who indeed?
This morning, I was reading the story of the Samaritan woman. Or also known as the Woman at the well. No, it has nothing to do with raising children. (Or does it? Who raised her?) Anyway, it did get me talking to my son about how a whole lot of people in a town, albiet, small, followed HIM at her excitement and enthusiasm. And her willingness to go and tell to get the ball rolling.
We discussed it along the way.
And then I got to thinking again, about the talk show personality, and how he had people call in about how much they are spendingon all those things. Not once did it occur to him to ask, what is wrong with this picture??!!??! Who is raising our children?
I am not saying that extra curicular activities are wrong, unless of course they over take your life.
But, I know this is not politically correct, how many hours are our children spending with someone else training them? Training their thoughts? Training their worldview? Implementing their moral compass?
Please know that our chidlren are not locked up in our homes. Yes, we find people to help raise and disciple along with us.
And please do not assume that children that are trained by their parents are perfect or make right choices all the time.
They don't.
But how tragic that we so willingly give up our children to others for such a long time, so many hours of the day...and what is the final outcome? What is the goal?
I have heard the financial needs. I get it. There have been many times that we have struggled to put food on the table/ pay our bills because we are a one income family. I have begged my husband to let me help him take some of the burden off of him. He has always stated..."Not at the sacrifice of the children."
We can sacrifice in other areas, and trust me. We do.
But in the end...when we face GOD HIMSELF, we will face our mistakes in raising them. But by HIS grace, we tried to raise them for HIS glory. It was HIS word to us we tried to obey. It was HIS command we sacrificed for; and in our weakness, our prayer is that HE would be strong.
Who is rasing the children?
Who indeed?
2 comments:
This has been on my mind for quite a while . It goes so deep , so many feel that they "need" so much , then they work so much to get what they "need" .. there is so much more to raising kids than clothing , feeding and activities .. it takes time , lots of it . I also homeschool two children and my 13 year old this year is in Christian school , they are not perfect but we have invested lots of time in them and they are wonderful ,well adjusted , loving , born again children . We are also a one income family and yes, we cut corners where we can , it means the girls do not get all the latest styles or go on fancy vacations but we sure do have fun ! Have you seen the movie "Couragerous" , if not you need to ... calls on fathers, but it was speaking to all parents to invest time in your children and truly know them , letting them know they matter to you ..not sending them off to an activity all the time without you . Judy , who will get off her soapbox now :0
Love this post. We raised our oldest son in public school, activity after activity (his choice), and now we are raising our three youngest in a totally different way (homeschooling and being very protective about the types of activities they join). Even with Ted in so many things as he got older though, we still made time for beging a family and are still very close today with him.
But Kevin and I have strongly felt the need to parent differently this time around. We feel God's leading in this, and the more I read posts like yours and thoughts from other homeschool parents, the more we are convinced we are doing the right thing by our children.
We are honored and blessed to be getting to do this a different way, and I so want to tell other families we see going through the rat race to take their children back. We are both public school teachers with Kevin still in the classroom, but we couldn't be happier than we are right now homeschooling our precious little ones. We see how much it benefits them, and we rejoice! So glad you feel the same way.
hugs,
janet and gang
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