It Starts at Home

A few months ago we started our family tea time, which we do the third Monday of the month. Now, neither of our cultural backgrounds included tea time, yet it's something new and exciting that we are learning ourselves, and able to teach to our kiddos, as we all grow culturally.

So many meme’s and statements are going ‘viral’ professing that the schools and what they are teaching are the reason for the racism in our societies. People scream about how the churches are to blame for our adult children walking away from the faith. Parents are blaming the teachers for their child who is failing out of school. The country is blaming the police for teenagers and adults becoming incarcerated, or treated unfairly. It’s a never ending blame game. It’s always somebody else's fault, never our own.

Well is that 100% true? Is it really NEVER our fault. I mean, could there be a slight chance that if somebody, anybody started to take some of the owness, things could possibly change… even a little bit?

(Scriptures about:

Raising our children- Proverbs 22:6, Deuteronomy 6:5-7, Ephesians 6:4, 2 Timothy 3:15-16

Discipline- Hebrews 12:11, Proverbs 29:15-17, Proverbs 12:1

Being an example: 1 Timothy 4:12, Titus 2:6-7, 1 Peter: 2:12, John 13:14-15, Philippians 3:17)

Don’t misunderstand, we fully realize that there may be situations in which the child goes astray and off the deep end for no apparent reason, well besides their sin nature. That’s not what we are discussing here. We are discussing the obvious teachings to our children that start at home.

Parent, what kind of example are YOU being?

The funniest thing to witness is a baby that curses(cusses 😊) and the parents say, “ I don’t know where they learned that word from!” Now the fact that the baby uses foul language isn't funny, the fact that the parents won't own up to their example is funny. One can easily assume that whoever the baby is around most often, is exactly who they learned that naughty word from. 9 times out of 10, it is the parents.

Well, it’s the same concept when it comes to the example that we are to our kiddos, in everything. It is so sad to hear and see the horrible things ‘Christians’ have been speaking or typing about other people,…. other Christians. Do we not realize that our kiddos hear, see, and repeat, in some way, shape or form, everything we say and do?

If we go on and on about how our 'Black’ sons have it so hard in this country, or how the 'White' police officer did that ‘Black’ girl so wrong, what do you think we are sowing into the little minds God gave us to train? If we go on and on about how ‘Mexican’ people are constantly starting trouble, in front of our Native American kids, how do you think that they will look at people of that ethnicity? If you don’t see a pattern, we will help. It’s the realization that racism, prejudice, disrespect, and lack of manners starts at home. It may be taught in school, but what most of our kiddos retain, is what we, the parent, teach them.

Change starts at Home

Our oldest daughter is married to a Caucasian guy whom we just love so much. Our younger two daughters, after about a year into my daughter and her then boyfriend were dating, heard someone say that Nick(son in law) was white. The shock and confusion on my daughters faces, was priceless. The oldest of the two said “Mom…. Nick is white?” They knew white as a color, not a person.

Some may say that’s a shame, or sad that we didn’t teach our homeschool kiddos to know race, we said it was beautiful that our homeschool children didn’t see race.

They knew white as a color, not a person.

On the opposite side of things we have known many kiddos who’ve said things like, “look at that white girl” or “what is that Asian man doing?” They define a person by their color or ethnicity. This kind of speech also started at home. This is the way we, believe it or not, start sowing racism into the hearts of our children. We don’t teach good and bad, right or wrong. We teach black or white, Mexican, or Asian. It starts at home. If we want to see a culture changed, I’m sorry, but it’s not going to start with people embracing ‘white guilt’ or protesting, or ‘hate’ on social media, or giving up your really good friends because of the president they voted for. It is going to start by reformatting what it is that we believe, and what our kiddos learn under our teaching and guiding, hence” train up a child in the way that he should go”.

Let’s help shape Future Generations

· Teach our kiddos to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, and soul (Matthew 22:37)

· Teach our kiddos to honor their father and mother (Exodus 20:12)

· Teach them to be subject to those that have been placed in positions of authority (Romans 13:1)

· Teach them to love everyone regardless of skin color, social status, or gender (1 John 4:7)

· Teach them to have good manners. Using; yes please, no thank you, please, and thank you, go a long way

· Teach them to know that they are loved by you and Jesus, no matter what anybody else thinks of them

· Teach them to be happy about who they are in Christ, but to stay humble so not to feel like they are superior to anybody else

· Teach them that men and women are created equal, yet with different roles. Neither gender is inferior to the other

· Teach them how to behave at a dinner table for not only you, but the people waiting on you and sitting around you

· Teach them to have respect for their elders. They should know how to volunteer at any time to help the elderly.

· Teach them how to speak. Remind them that the things that come out of their mouths is what defines their character.

Scripture has many more ways in which to teach our children, it never disappoints.

Although there are many of us who hope for a better world, the bible clearly says that times will get worse. This means racism will not cease, many people will die at the hands of another, and hate will continue to spread. This world will not be better until our Lord and Savior returns.

However, let’s not lose hope, we still have a job to do in light of an eternal future with our kiddos. Let’s be diligent parents, let’s train up our children in the way that they should go, because true and lasting change….. it starts at home!

Be Faithful, Be free

T and E Young