I don't know about you, but I feel making my own choices is something that is harder than it seems. It seems to me that making my own choice would be easy. I should take a look at my choices, list the pros and cons, and make an educated decision. Well, sometimes this is a struggle for me and sometimes it is a struggle for my children.
I was thinking about this concept recently when we were taking a family vacation. The sun was hot and with our fair skin, we burn easily, so we were all wearing hats along with a thick layer of sunscreen. One afternoon when we were sitting outside playing on a blanket, our youngest child started to trade hats with his siblings. However, what he found was that his small bucket hat did not fit on anyone of his sibling's head and their visors or baseball hats were too big for him. He couldn't see clearly wearing their hats because they fell and covered his eyes. I think that is a great analogy for us! Why are we so interested in wearing other people's hats, why are we so interested in making the same choices as others?
I was thinking about this concept recently when we were taking a family vacation. The sun was hot and with our fair skin, we burn easily, so we were all wearing hats along with a thick layer of sunscreen. One afternoon when we were sitting outside playing on a blanket, our youngest child started to trade hats with his siblings. However, what he found was that his small bucket hat did not fit on anyone of his sibling's head and their visors or baseball hats were too big for him. He couldn't see clearly wearing their hats because they fell and covered his eyes. I think that is a great analogy for us! Why are we so interested in wearing other people's hats, why are we so interested in making the same choices as others?
There seem to have all sorts of outside influences pushing us to make certain choices. It could be called a form of peer pressure. What are our friends doing? What would so and so want me to do? How would it look if I did that? What are people going to think? What is the "professional" telling me to do? These are all phrases that run through my mind now and then. These are also some things that my children must be thinking as well when they use phrases like: "she made me do it;" or "I don't know what happened;" or "everyone else does it." Why is it so hard to wear my own hat?
One of my personal aims with our children is to help them resist peer pressure and help them be their own person. We don't really talk about it on a daily basis or anything, but I do encourage them to make their own choices. There are conversations anytime they feel that someone "made" them do something. Really, there are only very rare circumstances where someone can "make" you do something....they can encourage you and bribe or threaten you, but mostly, you are the one that chooses to complete the act. I also try to model for my children, the ability to stand against the norm and stand for what I have been convicted by or feel is best.
However, there are times when we get excited or emotionally involved in a situation and we become "caught up in the moment," and make a quick, rash, often poor choice. When this happens with my children, I help them to step back and think of the alternative options they had. When this happens to me, I often belittle myself and feel guilty for not taking the time to process the situation correctly. I have chosen to wear someone else's hat instead of my own, I need to remove their hat, give it back and return the hat that God has given me, back to my head.
Let me encourage you to wear your own hat today. Take a few moments and pray about the choices you are making for you and your family. Why have you chosen to: educate, nourish, discipline, encourage, pray with, or involve your children the way you have? Is it because you know that this is the path that God has chosen for your family? or is it because you are feeling pressured to do something a certain way? I know that I will be spending sometime today looking at our choices and making sure that I am wearing my own hat!
One of my personal aims with our children is to help them resist peer pressure and help them be their own person. We don't really talk about it on a daily basis or anything, but I do encourage them to make their own choices. There are conversations anytime they feel that someone "made" them do something. Really, there are only very rare circumstances where someone can "make" you do something....they can encourage you and bribe or threaten you, but mostly, you are the one that chooses to complete the act. I also try to model for my children, the ability to stand against the norm and stand for what I have been convicted by or feel is best.
However, there are times when we get excited or emotionally involved in a situation and we become "caught up in the moment," and make a quick, rash, often poor choice. When this happens with my children, I help them to step back and think of the alternative options they had. When this happens to me, I often belittle myself and feel guilty for not taking the time to process the situation correctly. I have chosen to wear someone else's hat instead of my own, I need to remove their hat, give it back and return the hat that God has given me, back to my head.
Let me encourage you to wear your own hat today. Take a few moments and pray about the choices you are making for you and your family. Why have you chosen to: educate, nourish, discipline, encourage, pray with, or involve your children the way you have? Is it because you know that this is the path that God has chosen for your family? or is it because you are feeling pressured to do something a certain way? I know that I will be spending sometime today looking at our choices and making sure that I am wearing my own hat!
No comments:
Post a Comment