In centuries past, the influences on a child’s life came almost exclusively from home and the church, with limited communication and travel, people grew up knowing little more than what they saw in their own small community.
Of course today is so different!
Influences abound from the earliest age, through media, computers, travel, phones and an information society. So where in the past it was ok, to let kids find out about life as they went along, now we see voices actively vying for our children’s attention from day one.
Some of those voices are good, we love the clean your teeth, don’t eat junk food, don’t smoke messages, but there are so many more.
It’s our job as parents to guide our offspring to maturity and our hope for them is to become a responsible contributing member of society. When they reach adulthood, they will make their own decisions about everything, BUT, until they are mature, they need guidance. They need values, they need a framework to evaluate things by.
Too often children are left to face information and situations for which they are not prepared, and in those times they make decisions and form mindsets about life that will influence their future. So what do parents need to do, talk to your kids! Talk to them about everything. TALK, TALK, TALK! (listening is also important of course but that’s a discussion for a different time.) Discuss the issues of life in an age appropriate way, so that there is a voice from someone who really cares about their future, in there with the ones that want to sell product, or promote consumerism, or promote values different to your own.
So many times parents don’t talk to their little ones about drugs, appropriate relationships, consequences of risky behaviour, emotions and what to do with them, and the first influence on a child’s life is by someone they may never meet. A t.v. personality or a magazine writer, or a singer.
We all know the saying that you only get one chance at a first impression, well your child only gets one chance to hear about something for the first time, why not make that from you.
Almost everything we deal with in life is limited, time, energy, finance, opportunity, what if the ability to write on your child’s heart is limited? What if after a certain age, or certain experiences, there’s no more room for the values you want to instil? What if we wait until they are old enough to decide for themselves, but the other influences don’t wait?
Please take the time to talk to your little ones and your big ones. Let your voice be an influence in their lives. Write on their heart the values you hold dear, tell them about the things you’ve learnt in life. Let them see your heart. Build a friendship they will cherish for all of their lives, and don’t leave out the hard stuff, the yucky stuff, there will always be someone willing to write on your child’s heart, they just might not have the same agenda as you.
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