Proverbs: Day 22 - Raising Children - [Chapter 22]

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." verse 6.  This verse captures my imagination and attention.  As a father who has raised three children, I always have these hopes for them.  Hopes that they will be safe.  Hopes that they will be happy and satisfied.  Hopes that they will be able to raise their families as I in turn was raised.  Parenting (for me) was always about allowing my children to make choices and decisions, even if I didn't agree with them.  The joys and challenges of being a parent has always been about walking the delicate line between the hopes that I have for my children and the ultimate decisions they make to achieve their own hopes and dreams.

I so appreciate Solomon's words but I also realize that I wasn't always the best parent and I didn't make the wisest decisions all of the time.  Oh sure, I did the best that I could, but I'm not sure we are born to be parents.  We grow into it.  We learn.  We adjust.  We make mistakes. We try again.  The only thing really I wonder is whether or not my moments of being less than I had wanted to be had any negative impact on my children at all.  

For the most part, we shape our children based on what we experienced from our past.  How our parents raised us makes a difference in how we raise our own children.  The important point about all of this is that we have to somehow determine what that "way" that children should go really is.  Everyone may have a different opinion over the way to raise their children.

If it means that I raised my children to know that it's okay to make mistakes, that learning is always a good thing, and that saying "I'm sorry" is a natural thing, that somewhere in the midst of all of their lives faith is important, then I guess that's all I can do.  

When my children are old, perhaps they will see some of the same things that I see at this point in my life.