Today's post was written by Barb's youngest sister, Janis, who has a little bit
of a different take on her upbringing than what Barb wrote about ~
For the past several weeks, youʼve been reading about how Gordon and Marian
Brown raised six children to love and honor the Lord. My sister, Barb, who is
the fourth in line and nine years older than me, has been sharing their
strategy. Iʼm the youngest of the six and so it is only fitting that I bring up
the rear in this series and tell you about their child raising from a different
perspective.
My parents were wonderful Godly people, who shared with us a
heritage that my husband and I have striven to pass down to our kids, now ages
20,23, and 26. I loved them dearly and think that they were wonderful parents,
however, in all honestly I must admit that I do not even remember a lot of the
stories that Barbara Alexander told because I wasnʼt around when they happened.
By the time I came along, I think they were tired of raising kids and perhaps
didnʼt implement many of those parenting strategies with me! Maybe thatʼs why my {and my husbandʼs} parenting doesnʼt look exactly like theirs.
Iʼm not as
mild-mannered and soft-spoken as my mother was.
We werenʼt as strict with our
kids as my parents were.
We focused on quality and quantity time, not just
quality as my dad espoused.
We encourage very open communication with our kids,
much more than my parents did. And my husband does definitely NOT whistle for
me!
I could probably list more, but these differences really donʼt matter
because we have the same core values as my parents. The difference comes in how
we apply our parenting skills. My parents raised us with core values that permeated
all they did. Those core values are like the skeleton of a human body. They were
the support, the basis, the foundation for how they parented. Itʼs the cover over those bones that is unique to every individual.
Our core values {the
same core values that I was raised on} are these ~
• God's Word is foundational to all of life and godliness
• Honor God
•
Communication
• Honesty
• Trust
• Unconditional Love
Weʼve taken those same core
values that resulted in raising six kids to love and honor God and weʼve adapted
them to our personalities and our lifestyle. We donʼt do everything exactly like
my mom and dad did. Itʼs no doubt that I see things pop up now and then that
make me think, “I sound like my mom or dad!”
But overall, our parenting has a
different sort of flavor than my parentʼs generation of parents. The result? We
have three amazing young adults who are deeply in love with Jesus and who want
to serve Him with their whole heart.
So the question for you as parents is, what
is the skeleton of core values in your home? If you are basing your parenting
strategy on God and His Word, then how you flesh out that parenting can be as
unique as you are. Thereʼs a lot of parenting guru noise out there.
Everyone has
a strategy, a plan that will raise good kids. And they may offer some very
good suggestions, but know this: the core values that you stand upon as a family
will be the ultimate determination of what kind of adults your children will
become.
My parents have been in heaven for 15 and 23 years, and I often wonder
what they would think of our parenting. However, I have a feeling that my Dad
and Mom would be proud of the kids weʼve raised. And my husband and I can
gratefully echo the words of my Dadʼs favorite verse: “I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 4.
Janis Meredith, youngest
of six in the Brown family, is a sports mom
and coach’s wife. She writes a sports parenting blog called JBM Thinks.
and coach’s wife. She writes a sports parenting blog called JBM Thinks.
Check out her Sports Parenting Survival Guide.
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