Like Father, Like Son

(2 minutes read)

When my daughters were toddlers, I once found them fighting. The four-year-old was striking her two-year-old little sister. I instinctively intervene smacking the older one telling her: “you cannot strike your little sister for she is smaller than you”.

My older daughter however looked at me puzzled without saying anything, but her eyes seamed to tell me: “If I’m four and cannot strike my sister because she is smaller, how can you with thirty years age strike me with only four?”. At that moment I understood that if I really wanted to teach my daughters, my actions would definitely be more important than my words.

Our children see us almost 24 hours per day, we can tell them what we want, however it won’t be our words but our behavior that will influence them to the better or worse. If we are going to follow the biblical recommendation to teach the children on the ways of the Lord, they must see us in these ways to believe in our teaching.

Knowing our own imperfections, at times we feal inadequate or incapable of being the role models for the future generation. Nevertheless, what is needed is not for us to be perfect but for us to be truthful.

Later, I was able to apologize to my daughter and to tell her how much a loved her, but the change in my behavior is what ensured to her that those wore not empty words. She learned that I wasn’t perfect but recognized my mistakes and tried to improve. She also learned that she wasn’t perfect and that she also could recognize her mistakes to improve.

Whether we are or not parents, the future generations look at us and will follow our example. The Bible strongly advises us to be worthy role models to be followed, otherwise we’ll pay the price for leading astray the little ones. What is great is that if we follow Christ, he helps us to improve our behavior.

• Which adult behaviors influenced you as a child?
• Which of your behaviors are worthy to be followed by children?

(Teach the child, Proverbs 22:6  /  Don’t lead children astray, Luke 17:1-2)