Wednesday April 13, 2011
Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: What every child needs
Weekend Music links on iTunes: Today Is The Day, Holding Nothing Back, Jesus Paid It All, I Will Follow
Read: Proverbs 22:6, Deuteronomy 6:6-9
Think: Have you ever worked at a place where your boss was constantly looking over your shoulder or constantly asking you about your progress or continuously telling you what to do and how to do it? We call this being a- micromanager and many times, it drives employees nuts!
The danger of micromanagers is that they stifle the creativity and the learning process of their workers. Worker's are much more frustrated, unmotivated and is stunted in their development which leads to far more problems in the future.
Unfortunately, we see this in families. Parent’s become over-protective of their kids- to the point of being intrusive, controlling and untrusting. Growing up, I had little freedom to act on my impulses. My parents typically watched my behavior very closely and any stray from their expectations ended in discipline.
As a result, I rebelled when I went to college. I didn’t know how to handle my freedom. There were no parents looking over my shoulder telling me what to do and I had no fear of punishment since my parents were far away- to make a long story short- I gotten into trouble and lots of it.
I can’t help but to believe that if my parent gave me my space and I don’t mean complete abandonment, I mean kept healthy level of boundaries, I would’ve been able to learn from smaller mistakes, think for myself and evaluate potential consequences.
If you’re a parent, especially of teenagers- make sure you give them a healthy amount of space. Trust that they will make the right decisions. Have confidence in your parenting and that what you’ve instilled in them growing up is still playing out in their lives today.
Do: Ask your son/daughter if they feel like they have a healthy amount of space from you. If not, talk about how that could change.
Pray: God help me to trust that you will guide my child in their decisions and that they will not forget the things they have learned from us while growing up. Amen
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.