Parental Responsibility

For many parents these days, raising children is becoming harder and harder. Much harder, so far as I can see, than it was for those who, like me, are part of the grandparent generation these days. More and more, both mum and dad are in the workforce trying to make ends meet. For many, the support of extended family just isn't there anymore. You know the old saying, it takes a village to raise a child. Well, in many places and cultures, that village – even extended family support – has all but disappeared. Instead, we've become a collection of small family units possibly living in physical proximity, but also at great social distance. Then, of course, as the kids get older, there's the incredible pressure of social media and this 24/7 connectedness that allows the immature thinking of their peer group, fuelled by profit-focussed corporate interests, to mess with the emotions and their brains. Oh yeah, it's much tougher these days! So many young parents find themselves fraying at the edges. They're being pulled every which way and eventually they snap. So, mums, dads, grandparents, aunties, uncles … listen up. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, don't make your children angry, but raise them with the kind of teaching and training you learn from the Lord. Okay, that's pretty specific. We dads can snap sometimes and put undue pressure on our kids. But more broadly, God's pointing us here to the responsibility that we all have, no matter our role, in raising our children in the wisdom and teaching of God. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child. That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.