Playing the model

Whether you like it or not, your child looks up to you whilst growing and you are one of the very first role models he/she sees.  The child apparently learns more from what you do, than what you say.  And most of the time, they are silent observers; they see everything, may just keep quiet at the time and suddenly say (or act) something they have seen particularly if the situation demands it.

My son made a rude statement to one of his friends and I said ... .oh no, you must never say that, it’s not a nice thing to say to anyone.  Have you ever heard me say anything like that?  And he went. . of course YES mummy, when you are driving.  I could have sworn I never use those foul languages.  Driving sometimes has a way of bringing a part of you, you never knew existed.  God have mercy! 

But this makes me extra conscious of what I say or what I do, knowing that my child is learning from me.  When I am lazy about doing certain things I know I should do, I just prop myself to do it sometimes.  I try to ensure the right disciplines as much as possible, family prayer time, church/fellowship time e.t.c.  And also those wifely home duties!  God help us, our daughters are learning.

You can imagine what it does to a child to watch his/her father beat up his/her mum.  This child may just grow up having the wrong ideas about marriage.

I believe we may not be perfect all the time, but perhaps we can strive to make our homes (at least in terms of how parents play their roles to each other and disciplines we put in place in our homes) the minimum standard that we would want our children’s homes to be in the future.

Prayer point: O Lord, help us to build our homes with Christ as the centre point, help us to be good role models to our children in Jesus name.  Amen.