Children

I have had babies on the brain lately. It started with a baby shower this past weekend. Pregnancy possibility. Then a private adoption thing I heard about. Seeing a new mother with her adopted child. Finding out the sex of a friend's baby. The couple in our church going through IVF. There are so many ways to have a baby. No matter how you get your baby, the end result is universal. Your lives will never be the same again.

I think it is a good thing. Having a child (no matter how that is accomplished) is one way to be sure that you won't be selfish anymore. Nothing like having a child to make you think about someone besides yourself. Those little things demand to be taken care of. Very loudly. Very fervently. Very often. The rewards of having a child are many. Those unexpected hugs around the neck from a sweaty little person are precious. The joy of watching them sit up for the first time, their first smile, their first tooth, their first steps. Such great milestones. Watching them grow is a miracle to behold.

Babies are so cute. Babies are so sweet. Babies sometimes smell delicious, sometimes not. Then they grow up, or at least they think they are grown up.

God give us our children as babies so that we will fall in love with them and not kill them during their high school years.

If you ran an ad for a teenager -- who would want it? Teenagers are typically depicted as surly, smart-mouthed, sleepy, selfish, grouchy, relentlessly needy people. Some of the teenagers I know are certainly like that, though some are not at all like that. Some pre-teen kids are already on that track. Some elementary school children are on that track. Some parents allow their children to speak to them in ways they would not let another human being on earth talk to them. Why do they do that? Because those children have worn their parents down and they are helpless to defend themselves. You know that the Grand Canyon was just a trickle of water to start with, don't you? But, after years and years of relentless dripping, the Grand Canyon became what it is today. That is how teenagers get their way. Hours and hours of constant, relentless begging. Honestly, I think most children should be locked away from the time they are 16 until they are about 25. That is when they start realizing that their parents aren't as stupid as they thought they were.

It is true. We have control over what we will take from people. People treat you the way you allow yourself to be treated. So, how come the kids today are allowed to be so disrespectful to their parents and other adults? Because we allow them that freedom. It isn't a good thing. Our children are the next generation's adults. Surly, rude adults in some cases.

I feel old. Honestly, I am sure that every generation's grandmas and grandpas have thought that the children of today get away with way more than they ever got away with. It is true. Mothers and Fathers on the whole hate the music their children listen to incessantly, disapprove of their choice of friends, don't like the way their room always looks, and generally they don't like the time they spend on the phone and computer. The way they dress is questionable, also. That is a whole topic in and of itself. Who is the first parent who said "Let's get a pair of really short shorts that show off the buttocks, and put the word 'JUICY' on the back of it and let our beautiful child wear them." Seriously? Why would you want that on your child's butt? Why do you allow your child to wear such a garment? What has happened to modesty? What has happened to courtesy? How did this happen?

We have let it happen. Our generation raised a generation of adults that said, in effect, that nothing is their fault. It is all your parents fault. Nothing is wrong with you. You are perfect. What a crock. No parent ever got up every day and said, "What can I do today to screw up my kid?" Sometimes it is your fault. You made a wrong choice, you took the wrong path. Your parent didn't stand over you and make you do anything. As an adult, you get to choose the paths you take. You make your own choices. You can either be a victim of your upbringing, or let your upbringing just be part of what makes you your own person. Everyone endures adversity. It is how we handle that adversity that makes us strong, not the adversity itself. Our reactions and choices make us into responsible, happy adults, or makes us into whiny, self-absorbed, miserable adults. Stop letting your children talk to you like you are nothing. Stop letting them decide where you eat dinner. Stop letting them make the decisions about themselves -- they don't know what is best for them. Take charge of those kids and raise them into people we can be proud of. Respectful, honest, God-fearing people.

That is all we want for our kids, so it is our responsibility to help mold them with those intentions. So go raise your kid to be the kind of person you think everyone would like to emulate. Go on, you can do it!