Parents, knowingly and unknowingly, pass on values, philosophy, habits, and mindset to their children through their daily interactions, life choices, and modeling. Parents cannot be unmindful considering the lifelong, generational impact they have. Rejoice Lagat-Supsup and her husband Genesis are making sure that the good things they have observed and learned from their parents are passed on as they raise their four boys aged 7, 5, 3, and 8 months.
Parenting is not for pansies, we would say. But what an honor to be drafted into this. And how fortunate we are to have ones who walked ahead of us—to model and inspire. We are both blessed to be raised in Christian homes; in fact, from families of ministers. But that didn’t guarantee that we would parent our children perfectly. We quickly realized that we cannot let our parents parent our children. Our parents may have modeled family life for us so well and are definitely seasoned in this aspect, but this is one task that we cannot delegate. We have to learn the ropes, plunge in and experience more of God’s grace.
TIME. When we were young, we saw how our parents firmly declined tempting opportunities that lessened time spent with us. This inspired us to choose a lifestyle that would allow us to have quality and quantity time with our children. We want to spend most of our children’s waking hours with us and use it to explore God’s Word, experience His faithfulness, establish values and have adventures at home or outside. We want to be present and accessible to them. Deuteronomy 11:18-21 has always resonated in our hearts, “ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” We cannot follow this if we are absent and uninvolved. God granted these wants through a home-based business and homeschooling. (To be continued)
