Growing Children

 

I love this old picture of my twenty-year-old grandson!  I have enjoyed watching all of my grandchildren grow up.  My wife wishes that they would stay little, but I understand the reality of growing up.  I have watched them go from the “terrible twos” to teenagers and then to young adulthood.  My two oldest are away at college and are making me proud.  No one lives without mistakes, and they will make mistakes too, but I am proud of them.  I think raising children is like growing a garden.  The seed is planted, watered, cultivated, and protected; but soon the plant is mature bearing fruit as it was intended to.  Hey, can old Uncle Gerald give you young parents some timely advice?  Work diligently with your children when they are young.  Deal quickly and decisively with rebellion.  Then in middle school, let them begin to make decisions about things that are appropriate for their age level.  Let them grow up with gentle guidance and flourish as God has made their personality to be.  Some will be leaders, some will be artistic, some will be athletic, while others will be musically inclined.  Solomon said in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  This is not a promise, this is a Biblical truism.  Work in your garden of life, and your children will flourish.  But take your hands off when your job is done.  Sit back and watch them fly.  Let them go.