Real Ministry with VeeVeca- Children are a gift

Exhortation: News – Children are a gift (True news story attached)

Not every story in the news is worth reading. But today, I just read the news below and I conflicted.. I was a single parent with a dead beat dad. Lord knows, I know all about that. But somewhere between me being the single parent and my exhusband being a dead beat dad, are the children that still need encouragement, discipline, love, tenderness, direction and assortment of life skills just to make it in this world. Somewhere the mission of being a parent gets lost between ‘all I gotta do' and ‘all he ain't doing' that the child or children are lost. And right now, I am sad for the little boy in this story. I don't know the inside story, but for a 4 year old child to go to this extreme just to see his daddy somebody (one or both of the parents) have fallen off the mission of being a parent. Children belong to God first then God trust them to individuals to parent. I pray right now in the name of Jesus and the power of God that every person that has a child become more sensitive to the need and needs of that child. Children are a gift.

Real Ministry:

Veca

Beer-buzzed boy, 4, wanted to visit jailed dad
Mom says he got drunk, stole girl's dress because he 'wants to go to jail'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34465839/ns/us_news-weird_news/?gt1=43001

updated 4:18 p.m. ET, Thurs., Dec . 17, 2009

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Tennessee investigators say a 4-year-old boy was found roaming his neighborhood in the night, drinking beer and wearing a little girl's dress taken from under a neighbor's Christmas tree.
The child's mother, 21-year-old April Wright, told WTVC-TV that the boy "wants to go to jail because that's where his daddy is."
Wright said she and the boy's father are going though a divorce.

The boy, found outside his house in Chattanooga on Tuesday, was taken to a hospital and treated for alcohol consumption.
Hamilton County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Janice Atkinson said the incident is being investigated but the department declined to release the report.
The boy's mother said she met with child protective services and was told she will get to keep custody of her son.

The Herald: Living with children

The Herald HeraldOnline.com - Living with Children
By JOHN ROSEMOND - McClatchy Newspapers

Q: You've often said that parents should not be "involved" with their children, but rather should establish a clear boundary in the parent-child relationship. I agree in principle, but as a homeschooling mom, I have no choice but to be highly involved with my kids. Can you help me resolve this conflict?

A: In relationships, boundaries are essential to respect. One of the stumbling blocks in contemporary parenting culture is the general lack of a clear boundary between parent and child. The symptoms include the so-called "family bed," married couples who are more involved with their children than they are with one another (in terms of attention paid to, time spent with, interest shown in, and so on), and families that are organized around children's activities. The underlying problem is that today's parents are more concerned about being liked than respected by their kids.

This modern social fashion is by no means confined to the parent-child relationship. The need to be liked by children has infected the teaching profession (in some school systems, for example, students actually rate teachers on "likeability"), and manifests itself more generally in such imprudent things as adults wanting children - even very young children - to call them by their first names.

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DISCUSSION with VeeVeca:

Like vs. Respect. The writer of the article said, "The underlying problem is that today's parents are more concerned about being liked than respected by their kids." Is it possible to have both? Or am I just fooling myself?

For me, I do care if the children like me. However, I won't go out of my way to be liked. Meaning, if I have to discipline roughly I will because I am responsible for their lives. And because I am fully founded in the stand that kids belong to God first and then to parents second, they must adhere to the rules of the parent (who hopefully is listening to God). There is a thin line of befriending your children. Respect absolutely must be expected. But respect goes both ways-- from parents to kids, from kids to parents... ultimately all to God.