Raising Successful Children

I sometimes ask myself how my children ended up the way they did. Now, don’t get me wrong—my children are wonderful. They are responsible and loving adult children. But they still did not grow up exactly as I would have expected. Let me explain. Success can be measured in many different ways. For some people, success means having a great paying job. For others, like me, success means volunteering, doing mission work, and being active in the church. Most of my adult life, I have volunteered my time, talent, and money for the church and for charity. As a parent, those were the behaviors that I most wanted to instill in my children. Whenever I would volunteer or do mission work, I always took my children with me so that they would learn how to give of themselves. “After all,” I thought, “don’t children learn from what their parents do?” As it turns out, the answer is sometimes not. My children are not very interested in volunteering. In fact, my daughter never joined a sorority, and my son elected not to finish college. So there was a certain point where I began to ask the Lord, “How did my children end up this way?” One day, though, I heard God say to me loud and clear, “What way? Your way?” I was stunned. I said, “Yes, Lord, forgive me. Let them turn out your way!”

Even if my children didn’t grow up exactly as I personally expected, they have made great achievements in life. My daughter recently got her Master’s in Business Entrepreneurship, and she is a kind and loving young lady. Meanwhile, my son is currently working in real estate and is finding his own way. He, too, is loving and kind. So although my children didn’t end up “my way,” they are ending up “God’s way.” They have grown up exactly as God intended, and God has only just begun to work in their lives! I am very proud of my children. They are a great gift from God.

Five important things for your children:

Safety
Balance (Give them both love and discipline.)
Positive Role Modeling
Acceptance of themselves and acceptance of others who are different
Most importantly, a love for Jesus Christ, who should be prominent in their lives!