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Dad’s Are You Preparing Your Children For The Future?

Dad’s are you preparing your children for the future?What a powerful question and one that is not meant to be taken for granted. When you have children, whether youplanned on it or not, you are given a whole new world of responsibilities. These responsibilities are not to be takenlightly either. The following information pertains to the mother as much as it does the father. I’m just focusing on thedad part, well, because that’s what I am. Dads, you play just as much as an important role in your children’s lives asthe mother. Don’t ever forget that.

As parent’s we must remember that even though our children will be forever in our lives, they are only on “loan” to usfor a given time. You see they will eventually graduate high school, go to college, get jobs, get married, etc. Eventhough they will never leave our hearts and we will always do what we need to as parents for them, they willeventually be on their own. It is our responsibility to ready them for adulthood and all that comes with it.

Look at what the Bible says in Proverbs 22:6:

“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” (NLT)

So let’s take a look at some things that we can do to be preparing our children for the future. Again, these are from mypoint of view as a dad.

1. Get them involved in your local church. Be an example for your children. It’s extremely important for me as adad and a follower of Christ that my children see me going to church and being an active part of it. I want my childrento enjoy going to church and fall in love with following Christ. When they surround themselves with other children thatare going to church and getting involved it will help them continue doing this through their adulthood.

I grew up going to church every time the doors opened and I had my friends there. Even though as I grew older andwent through a time where I didn’t attend church, I came back to it and am now very much involved in my church.Again, this to me, is the most important in my children’s lives is loving and following Christ.

2. Be a good example of how to have relationships. If you are married, divorced, or whatever the case, you needto be an example to your kids when it comes to having relationships. They need to see the right way to treat aspouse, a loved one, an ex, a friend, business associates, etc. Our children won’t always grow up doing the things wesay, but doing the things we do. The way that we treat the people around us will be the way that our children treat theones in their lives. Let’s make sure that it’s a positive thing.

3. Teach your kids about money. I remember when I was in school that they would teach you how to run a checkingaccount and how to manage your money. It doesn’t seem that they are doing that these days and it really isn’t theschool’s place to do that anyway. Make sure that your children have a good understanding of what it takes to earnmoney and how to manage their money. Teach them how to budget, tithe, save, and invest. Teach them what it reallymeans to run a household as far as expenses like gas, electricity, water, food, clothing, etc. I think that far too manykids these days don’t have a real grasp of reality when it comes to these things and when they finally are out on theirown it’s like a deer in headlights. Make sure that your kids are prepared for these things.

4. Show your kids what family means. This has been an extremely challenging task for me in the last few years asmy kids get involved in more and more school activities. I think so many parents these days want their kids to do thethings that they never did and by doing so they become so involved in things that it’s a non-stop running around to getthem from place to place to place. There have been many times when I’ve had to tell the kids NO to a certain activityso that we could have some family time. Make sure that you teach your kids what family and family values reallymeans. I have told my kids before and I’ll keep telling them that activities will come and go and your friends will comeand go, but family is forever here.

Teach your kids how important it is to have meals together in the dining room as a family. Teach them that there willbe times that you have to say no to certain things for the best interest of the family. Teach them that these things areokay to do to protect the family unit.

5. Learn to let go. This is by far the hardest point for me to discuss. Some of you out there may have already beenthrough this and I hope that it went well. As parents, we know that the day will come where our little babies will growinto young adults and move into their own lives. My son is currently 17 and will be graduating from high school at theend of May and then turning 18 in June. I know that he will go on to do great and wonderful things, but I, like manyparents, am not exactly ready for that. He has many plans of his own and will hopefully be attending college awaysomewhere in the fall. This is a big step for him and an even bigger step for me. My little boy is growing up.

I think as dads we are able to let go a little bit easier than the moms and that’s okay. It’s also not always the case. Themost important thing for us to do before they reach this stage in their lives is to begin letting go a little bit at a time.Start letting them venture out a little bit on their own making bigger and bigger decisions on their own. They need tolearn that they will make mistakes, but it’s okay as they can learn from them. We don’t need to get to the point whereit’s time for them to go be an adult and they don’t know what to do because we have sheltered them all of their lives.

We don’t have to push our kids out of the nest and see if they will fly or crash. We can nurture them and prepare themand slowly begin to let them go to see how they will respond. They are going to screw up. They are going to makemistakes. They are going to accomplish a lot of things. They are going to do great things. It’s all in how we prepareour children.

I know that I am not the perfect dad and I don’t claim to be. I am, however, doing the best that I can to prepare my kidsfor the future. Getting ready to go through the next phase with my son in the next few months and knowing that histhree sisters won’t be too much further behind him means that I need to really make sure that I am doing all that I canto prepare them for what lies ahead. We can’t tell them everything as they will need to learn a lot as they go, but wecan certainly do our part.

So, are you preparing your children for the future? I hope that this little post helps someone out there. I know that ithas helped me in my writing of it. As a dad of four children, I know that I need to do all that I can to prepare my kidsand love on them while they are in my care. It’s a gigantic responsibility and one that we should never takelighthearted. Step up to the plate and be the parent, dads especially, that God has called you to be.

Blessings