Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

 
Have you ever imagined how things will be like (or how we hope things will be) some 10, 15, 20 years down the road?

What kind of a person will your child be?

Encourage communication. Ask, listen and don’t easily comment negatively What kind of work ethics you want him to have?

In what ways will she view life, and herself?

What kind of relationships with others do you wish she has?

What kind of parent-child communication will you have with all your children?

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I took a book off my shelf last night, and re-read Dr. Kevin Leman’s book, titled ‘Have a new kid by Friday’.

I read it a long time ago, but I was inspired once again.

Here are some thoughts I hope to share with you today.

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Lauren is 23, has been working for 3 months, and is always late for work. Her boss notices how she is very defensive whenever anyone gives some feedback, even constructive ones.

Johnny is 30yo, and has been married for a year. He hardly offers help and watches TV as soon as he gets home from work. They have no helper and he expects his wife, who also has a fulltime job, to prepare their meals and does all the housework.  
 
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If we want our children to be responsible and loving adults, we need to teach them about responsibility now and be a role model What kind of a person do we want our children to be when they are adults?

When we hope for something to happen in the future, we need to start doing something NOW, with THAT hope in mind.

If we want our children to be generous,
we need to teach our children what generosity means, why it’s important, and we need to practice it ourselves, too.

If we want our children to be responsible and loving adults,
we need to teach them about responsibility now and be a role model.

If we want our children to be honest adults,
then we cannot tolerate their lies and manipulative attempts when they’re little, however cute they may be.

 
If we want our children to be close to their busy Daddy,
then Daddy must make the extra effort to bond and build close relationships with his children since they are little.

If we want our children to enjoy spending time with us, then we must start now.

Set aside time to spend with our children (instead of letting our piles of work drown us and keep us from building relationships with them).

Squat and get down to their eye level when talking with them. Encourage communication. Ask, listen, put away our gadgets during conversations, and don’t easily comment negatively.

That is, if we want them to be adults who enjoy open conversations with us some 10, 15, or 20 years later.

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What are your hopes for the future?

What we do today matters.

I’m so thankful that I was reminded of all the above again last night.

Parents,
let’s reflect on our family, on our children.

Let’s do what needs to be done now, so that our hopes for the future have a better chance of becoming a positive reality.

May God help us all.