Another time I was at a banquet. The seating was assigned, so I sat next to a woman I only slightly knew. As we talked about several things, she declared, “The one thing I really hate is when parents of good children actually think they had something to do with it.”
How did I respond? Without great profoundness, that is for sure.
In the first scenario, I said nothing. I was at a complete loss for words. In the second situation, it did come out later that I had written a book on training children in character, which left an awkward silence for a few minutes.
Although I didn’t verbalize my very different philosophy to these
women, this blog gives me a chance to put into words the thoughts I was having.
Do I think parents are the only factor in how their children turn
out? No. But, I do believe parents are to be the major factor in pointing children to answers of how to live their lives.
It is the parent’s responsibility to teach and to train their
children. If a parent chooses to share this responsibility with others, then the parent needs to realize they are still accountable before God and must remain involved in what is being taught and trained.
Even though the church is given a role in teaching Truth, it is
clear that a man is to then reinforce those truths in his own
home.
I Timothy 3: 4 “He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.”
Proverbs 1: 8 “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and
do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”
Proverbs is full of what a father and mother are to teach their
children. Nowhere in the whole book does it encourage parents to hand training or teaching over to anyone else. Read it and see for yourself that God has made parents to be the major factor in pointing children to answers of how to live their lives.