Time to be Home
Last night I overheard a couple of women talking. One was sharing with the other what someone else had told her about a young women they go to church with. The conversation mentioned how this particular young women is often making off colored comments in group texts & using foul language while participating in sporting events. Her behavior is not all that different than the average teenager today, but very disappointing & disheartening because this young women knows better, she has been taught at church & in her home to live a higher standard.
One would think this was just two ladies sitting around gossiping, but instead it was a conversation between two church leaders who love this young women and want the best for her. The one asked the other, "Do I say something to her parents? If it was my child I would want to know. Where is she hearing/learning this behavior?" The second woman said to the first, "Oh, her parents know, her parents know." The conversation switched gears just a bit as they discussed how busy, busy, busy this young woman is with after school activities. Sometimes leaving the house at 6am and not getting home until 9pm at night.
As I heard this conversation continuing, the quiet whisperings of the Spirit said to me, "How can she be influenced in her home if she is never there?" She can't!
As I have thought about this, I have had it confirmed to my heart that it is OK if my children are not involved in a schedule full of sports, music lessons, and other activities in hopes that they will develop talents & "stay out of trouble". What is more important is that they have time to "be home". Time to be in an environment where high standards are taught, encouraged & supported, where kindness & love is what we strive for.
I send my kiddos off to school for 6 hours each day. Amidst learning reading, writing, math & social studies they are exposed to their fair share of foul language, rudeness, & unkindness to name a few. That means they spend almost half of their waking hours surrounded by a lot of yucky stuff. They need time at home where they can decompress and process all of that yuck out of their system. They need time to be built back up and strengthened before they have to be surrounded by the filth again.
It is OK for them to "just be home", at our home, where they feel the safest. After all when I signed up to be a mother I did not agree to raise a concert musician or an Olympic Athlete I agreed to teach my children about the Savior & to live a life that would allow them to be worthy to return to our Father's presence. It's perfectly right & good for my kiddos to be influenced at home!
One would think this was just two ladies sitting around gossiping, but instead it was a conversation between two church leaders who love this young women and want the best for her. The one asked the other, "Do I say something to her parents? If it was my child I would want to know. Where is she hearing/learning this behavior?" The second woman said to the first, "Oh, her parents know, her parents know." The conversation switched gears just a bit as they discussed how busy, busy, busy this young woman is with after school activities. Sometimes leaving the house at 6am and not getting home until 9pm at night.
As I heard this conversation continuing, the quiet whisperings of the Spirit said to me, "How can she be influenced in her home if she is never there?" She can't!
As I have thought about this, I have had it confirmed to my heart that it is OK if my children are not involved in a schedule full of sports, music lessons, and other activities in hopes that they will develop talents & "stay out of trouble". What is more important is that they have time to "be home". Time to be in an environment where high standards are taught, encouraged & supported, where kindness & love is what we strive for.
I send my kiddos off to school for 6 hours each day. Amidst learning reading, writing, math & social studies they are exposed to their fair share of foul language, rudeness, & unkindness to name a few. That means they spend almost half of their waking hours surrounded by a lot of yucky stuff. They need time at home where they can decompress and process all of that yuck out of their system. They need time to be built back up and strengthened before they have to be surrounded by the filth again.
It is OK for them to "just be home", at our home, where they feel the safest. After all when I signed up to be a mother I did not agree to raise a concert musician or an Olympic Athlete I agreed to teach my children about the Savior & to live a life that would allow them to be worthy to return to our Father's presence. It's perfectly right & good for my kiddos to be influenced at home!
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