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The Three Knows of Parenting

Parenting is one of the most important and enjoyable works God will every give you.  I can tell you as a parent that is about to marry off his oldest, it’s a work that will only be complete when God calls you home.  As will most things in life, that deals with relationships, you can’t see the end from the beginning, and that makes us feel a little like we are operating in the dark or a least in a very low-lit room.  But God promises that He will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  That one promise eludes to something of a journey, and it is just that, a journey.  And as every journey does it includes twists and turns, up hills and down hills, and is full of interesting characters.  The good news is that we start this journey will a few ancient pages in our hands that are clues to how great parents have navigated these beautiful and treacherous waters.  In this episode we are going to talk about three things you can know for sure and that will make the biggest difference in your children’s journey.  Whether your kids are 5 or 15 determine in your hearts today that you will know this:

• Know the adults who are influencing your children
• Know their friends
• Know where they are

Know the adults who are influencing your children

For my wife and I this started after our son hit the age of one.  Between Karla and her mom, they took care of Chandler until he was one it was then that we decided to put him into some daycare.  As you can imagine, with a one year old, that we were going to know everything we could about his care givers, the facilities, and every aspect of the day they had planned for our son.

This philosophy suck with us and on day one of kindergarten and all twelve years after I went to every teacher and administrator that would have contact with my kids, shook there hands, and made sure they knew me by name and knew that Karla and I would be working side by side with them to give our children the best possible chance for success.

Plan and take the time to know.  In Royal Rangers we can testify that behind every GMA’s is a family that knows.

Know their friends

On the scale of importance this may edge out the previous “Know”.  The one exception is that if you have a relationship with the adults around your children, they will be more likely to share concerns with you including other children they may befriending that could be leading down an unwanted path.

I am blown away at the number of parents that don’t know and moreover don’t think they can do much about it.  Certainly, it is easier if at a young age you teach your children how to identify good character traits in their peers and why that’s important, but there is something so evident about the importance of this “Know” that your older children will understand it immediately.  For example, every great sports team is all about assembling the best athletes as well as those with the most integrity to win the championship.  If you want to achieve your goals in life that you need to assemble the best team around yourself.

—-Story Of Miranda Here—

Know Where They Are

When I ask a parent of a 15,16, 17 year old, on Wednesday night, where their children are and the answer is, “I don’t know” my heart aches for them.  My daughter is 18 and in college at UF and to this day she will text me to let me know where she is.

“Rules without relationship breeds rebellion, rules with relationship breeds respect”