What Kind of Example?

It’s interesting being a parent.  For one thing, you get to see minature versions of you (or so your parents say) running around doing all sorts of things.  Some times they impress you with how different from you they are.  Some times they scare you with how much they are like you.

One thing that we’ve been having drilled into our heads during Sunday School is that our children copy what they see from us.  We all know the expression that actions speak louder than words, and in this case it’s true.

For example, it’s hard for us to teaching sharing, when we don’t share.  Especially when they ask us to share!  Twice I was confronted with this just this weekend.  Once it was a child asking me to share, the other was when I asked him if he shared and his response was “no, it’s mine!”

Why do we have different standards for ourselves than our kids?  We think that we’re protecting them from something, and we probably are, but why are we doing it?  We end up teaching them that a given thing is alright just because your an adult, when in reality it probably isn’t.

My father drank soda with every dinner that I can remember when I was growing up.  Guess what I wanted to do when I became an adult?  Guess what my kids thought they should get to do.  So now, I’m a good example drinking milk, water, and an occasional soda.

True, there are some things that an adult can do that a child cannot– like drive a car!  They are probably the exception and not the rule.

Have you noticed that when it comes to clothing, the little girls in the tinest clothes (the short shorts and the bikini tops) are the ones whose moms wear (or would wear) the same thing?  Have you noticed that the parents break little girls into this inappropriate attire at an early age.

We parents have a tremendous effect on the culture by the example we give our children.  Do we realize this, or do we somehow thing that we do not reap what we sow?