Life Lessons

Reflections

Who are the members of the proverbial "community" that it takes to bring up a child? For most of us, this includes parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, teachers, the neighbours and godparents.  Growing up, this community for us was comprised of a group of adults that were to be respected.  Mommy and Daddy insisted, "Show respect for your elders."

In school, common phrases included "Mind your manners", "Good Morning", "How are you?", and "Excuse me, please."  From prep school to high school, the class monitor or prefect had to be obeyed. When we walked along the road, if we saw 100 adults we had to cordially greet each and every one; if not, our parents would miraculously be made aware of this information BEFORE we set foot in the door!

When Mom and Dad had friends over, or our family went visiting, we children inevitably had absolute "emergencies" that we felt warranted immediate attention.  However, we never even considered the idea of barging into their conversations.  Instead, we would stand beside Mom or Dad, wait until an adult acknowledged our presence, say "excuse me please" and then launch into our story.  Gone are the days..

Nowadays, many children walk into a room, barely acknowledge any adult's presence, and begin their litany of demands.  They haven't been made privy to the slowly dying art of the Can-do Kid who is confident and outgoing, but still fully understands their role as a child, and the respect that adults have earned by being their elders. This unfortunate observation is due to the fact that many parents are too busy to properly parent, and some only experience their children's "horizontal" growth, meaning the children are always in bed by the time mom and dad get home from work.

How can you prevent or perhaps, reverse this process? Purchase our book “Life Lessons for Kids” and expose a child to practical lessons accompanied by specially selected bible verses.

Stop by our blog and share at least one life lesson you think should be imparted to kids.  What have you observed? How do you preserve the respect factor in your household? Blog with us today.