We’ve just celebrated fathers and only a month ago we honored moms. Today, I’d like to talk about the effect parents have on their children. What we do – our kids will imitate. This may be the beginning of learning for them. We are their examples. What they see, is what they often do. I have a few examples of this from my past. As I look back, so many years ago, to those child rearing days, I often wonder how I ever survived. For most parents, this is a challenging part of life that will reap great rewards with the help of God.

Many years ago, my husband and four-year-old son came home after a successful day of fishing.  Paul caught a record-breaking fish, and our son caught a smaller one, but it was just as important to him.  Every time someone visited, Paul would take the fish out of the freezer for his friends to see.  Soon our son was showing his catch of the day to his buddies.  Unfortunately, he was too little to reach the freezer, so he stored it in his toy box. It didn’t take long to realize the fish was now decomposing.  It wasn’t funny at the time but showed me how our children so want to be like us.

When the same son was playing soccer at the age of 8 or so, he was fortunate to have a coach from South America.  All the boys adored this fellow and wanted to be just like him.  As the coach began his training, he wanted the boys do everything he did – following his every move.  The demonstration began and the boys were right on it.  Especially when the coach swallowed a gnat and began to cough.  The whole team began to cough as well.

When we moved into a new house, I was putting up pictures on the wall.  My, then five year old daughter, proceeded to pound nails into her bedroom wall to display her Barbie clothes.

Children learn by example. We all do. The best way to learn is to do. Often those examples aren’t always good. We have to rely on God to lead us in every aspect of our lives – including teaching our children. This is shown through how we treat others – how we take responsibility for our actions – how we say we’re sorry for our mistakes – how we demonstrate kindness and love. They learn our bad habits too, so we need to be constantly aware of what we’re teaching them.

They watch us.  They learn.  I’ll bet there are hundreds of stories out there of how your kids followed the leader when growing up.  Please feel free to share them.  We all need a good laugh.  It’s Monday and maybe some humor would lighten things up a little.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; and even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 ESV