Trust Your Kids with Responsibility by Rick Warren Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot. If you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?” (Luke 16:10a, 12 NCV) Kids need experiences that stretch them, reveal their talents, and develop their shape for ministry. They need challenges where they develop responsibility. One of the most important life skills that all of us have to learn is how to be responsible. How do you teach responsibility to your children? Theres only one way. Give them the opportunity. Trust them with responsibility. Will they make mistakes? Absolutely. You did, too, when you were growing up. Will they sometimes be irresponsible? Yes. But if you hold on to responsibility, youre actually hurting your children. The goal of parenting from the moment theyre born is to move them from parent control in the early years to self control in the middle years to Gods control over their lives. That means you have to give up control! From the moment theyre born, youve got to start working on that. When we take responsibility for people, we take it away from people. If you treat your children as babies and you dont let them grow up, youll have to diaper them the rest of your life. And, youre filling the world with another co- dependent person. Many parents have said, If I had it all to do over again, Id do less for my children and teach them to do more for themselves.” The only way we grow is by being given challenges that stretch us, develop us, and build responsibility in our lives. The Bible says, Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot. If you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?” (Luke 16:10a, 12 NCV) Kids respond to responsibility. Having talked to many parents over the years and seen this in my own life, I believe that its far better to err on the side of giving too much responsibility than not trusting your kids enough. They’re going to make mistakes either way! Your goal is to produce a person who walks not just under his own self control but also under Gods control.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:43:56 +0000
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