Parenting Thoughts: Brought to You from The Breakfast Club
Phil and I had a little teen movie marathon this past weekend. We watched Saved and The Breakfast Club both for the first time thanks to good ole' Netflix. I got sucked in to each movie pretty quickly and came away with a treasure chest full of feelings. Lucky for Phil we got to have some in depth conversations about raising teenagers approximately nine years before we will have a teen in our house.
Our kids are going to experience life MUCH differently than I did as a kid/teen/young adult. Sheltered was my middle name back then. The word, sheltered, could have been stamped on my forehead and I wouldn't have known it. I was homeschooled and obedient, but I didn't wear denim jumpers covering my entire body, thank goodness. I find myself grateful at times for the things I was kept from and other times I wish I had been more prepared for the world ahead of me.
In my opinion both movies showed an intense need for teens to have a safe, honest, loving place to share their thoughts. Life is entirely confusing and growing up is weird, but it still happens. As a parent, I want to be a place where my kids can ask any question and express any thought without immediate condemnation or embarrassment. I want to give my children the opportunities to be around other adults who care deeply for them and can be an additional sounding board during their growing years. Yes, I want to protect Rock and Ever, but I don't want to hide them from what they are eventually going to encounter. Instead I want love to cover all.
Psalm 18 has been a chapter in the Bible that has walked with me since my pregnancy with Rock. Just recently, after reading it over and over for 4.5 years, a verse popped out at me in a new way. Psalm 18:35 says, "You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great." As I read this a couple weeks ago my heart has been tender to ask God to "stoop down to make me great" as I parent. The wisdom I need to give my kids a safe loving place where they can be angry, confused, hopeful, free to dream, and able to make choices on their own will only come to be through a real-life resurrected Savior.
May He stoop down to make us great.
Our kids are going to experience life MUCH differently than I did as a kid/teen/young adult. Sheltered was my middle name back then. The word, sheltered, could have been stamped on my forehead and I wouldn't have known it. I was homeschooled and obedient, but I didn't wear denim jumpers covering my entire body, thank goodness. I find myself grateful at times for the things I was kept from and other times I wish I had been more prepared for the world ahead of me.
In my opinion both movies showed an intense need for teens to have a safe, honest, loving place to share their thoughts. Life is entirely confusing and growing up is weird, but it still happens. As a parent, I want to be a place where my kids can ask any question and express any thought without immediate condemnation or embarrassment. I want to give my children the opportunities to be around other adults who care deeply for them and can be an additional sounding board during their growing years. Yes, I want to protect Rock and Ever, but I don't want to hide them from what they are eventually going to encounter. Instead I want love to cover all.
Psalm 18 has been a chapter in the Bible that has walked with me since my pregnancy with Rock. Just recently, after reading it over and over for 4.5 years, a verse popped out at me in a new way. Psalm 18:35 says, "You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great." As I read this a couple weeks ago my heart has been tender to ask God to "stoop down to make me great" as I parent. The wisdom I need to give my kids a safe loving place where they can be angry, confused, hopeful, free to dream, and able to make choices on their own will only come to be through a real-life resurrected Savior.
May He stoop down to make us great.
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