New life always brings hope for the future, and everyone is quickly excited for the baby’s birth. That excitement wanes as the child becomes older. The infant grows up taking on his or her own identity, and in the teen years they start to demand that others treat them as mature; therein lies the problem.
Changes have naturally occurred during the growing up process, which make it extremely more difficult for parents and their children to communicate as they once did. This is true of all parent and child relationships, and making parental mistakes is easy. Try thinking of this as an opportunity, not because there is a problem, but because there is a solution.
There have been those times when all of us would rather give up, then deal with the actual crisis within the moment. Others will personally share their favorite sayings and quote scriptures, because that brought them peace during a struggle. What great family and friends to encourage you! They are trying to help us. Somehow the circumstance still looms over us. What do we do? F-A-I-L-U-R-E is written in large letters over our foreheads. Of course, others see that, right? Wrong. The answer lies in us trusting God, but how do we do that? How does your child do that?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Pray and ask God to help you trust in Him with your child’s future. After all, He is your loving Father. Also, get to know your child better. Is there something that you do not know about them? Ask them questions. They will start to see and feel the depth of your love. Someone once said, “If you listen to me, you love me,” and children think that is especially true.
Always remember, we will have failures. They are really an avenue to success, because we realize more deeply our need of God.
What is Parenting Toward the 30%?
Studies have proven that 70% of Christian raised young adults walk away from their faith shortly after graduating from high school. That means that only 30% continue their walk with Christ. We are challenging parents of preschool, elementary, junior high and high school students to intentionally prepare their children for the ultimate day when they become a young adult. A time when they are on their own, and are responsible for their own decisions. Will they be among the 70% that walk away from God, or the 30% that stay in a relationship with Jesus Christ? What are you as parents doing right now to prepare them for that ultimate day?
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.” What does it mean to “Train up a child in the way he should go?” As a parent, what steps can you take now, when your child is young, to prepare them?
Young Adults of Worth is bringing awareness to the issue that 70% of young adults walk away from their faith, and are challenging parents to intentionally train their children starting at a young age, in “the way they should go.”
We will help you in this journey, by providing Biblical guidance on what you can do to increase the chances of your child ending up in the 30%. No one can give you a magic formula or a guarantee; however, God gives us a lot of parenting principles in His word, and He does let us know what it means to “Train up a child in the way he should go.”
