GCD Short - Children Are Sponges


 

 Children are sponges of information. They absorb everything around them, at all times, in all forms, from all sources. They will particularly learn from those with whom they spend the most time. In an ideal situation, that would hopefully be Mom and Dad. I understand that there are circumstances where this may not be possible, but then I hope that an effort will be made to ensure that those who are spending the majority of the day with your children are setting a good example for your children. Family members or trusted friends would probably be the best choices for child care, given that they act as responsible adults should, but that is not always the case either.

We all mess up in our actions and our words, but this should be the exception rather than the norm. And when we do mess up, we should seek to make things right. It is through our actions and our reactions that children learn how to act and react to others. This even goes so far as a parent apologizing to and asking for forgiveness from a child that they have treated or reacted to poorly.

For this reason it is important for the adults in a household to exemplify a loving relationship with each other. When the parents treat each other with love and respect, the kids will pick up on that. They will also treat the parents with love and respect and that will flow out towards their siblings, their grandparents, their aunts and uncles and cousins, and even to their teachers and neighbours. If there is even one person that is treated disrespectfully by either or both parents, the kids will pick up on that and will probably do likewise, to the extent that they are able to.

With divorce becoming such a huge problem in North America, and since most divorces are not amicable, is it any wonder that there seems to be a crisis of respect among our young people? I have a family member that is going through a divorce right now. One parent in particular is treating the other shamefully, and their three children are picking it up. Unfortunately, I have no relational capital to intervene because this family member and I have had little to no respect for each other for years. We haven't treated each other badly publicly, but we have a mutual disdain for each other which drives us to avoid each others' company. Perhaps this is a bad example that I have set for my own kids over the last 10 years or so; unfortunately hind sight is often 20-20. The best that I can do in this situation is to try to support and build up the belittled and run-down parent.

As adults, and especially as parents, we need to learn to treat others the way that we want to be treated; this is the 'golden rule' after all. The golden rule is taken from the Scriptures, words spoken by Jesus; "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12), or in lay man's speak, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". If we could learn to live by this word, not only would our world of adults likely be much more tolerable, but our kids would be much more tolerable as well. When everybody treats everybody else with the same respect that we hope to receive, the wheels of society are greased with kindness and respect.

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