Reactive or Proactive

Let me start by saying I don’t know where this will end up.  But I want to talk about parenting for a little bit. Are you a reactive parent or a proactive parent?  You probably have never thought about it that way before.  Let me try to explain it this way.

If you are a reactive parent, my guess is that you let your child/teen do whatever they want and then you try to clean up the mess when it happens.  Sometimes that involves getting angry, or frustrated, or punishing them.  Let me ask you this:  Do you know who your kids hang out with?  Do you know what your son and daughter do on their dates?  Do your kids hide things from you so that you don’t react? 

This method of parenting is definitely easier because you don’t really have to parent unless something goes wrong.  But what happens when your child makes a decision that you can’t fix?  How  do you react to that?

Are you a proactive parent?  Do you try and palce your child in situations that will help them succeed?  Do you take teaching moments in various life moments? Do you do things or make (yeah, you are still allowed to make your teens do something- they are your kids) your teen do things that are going to help them in the long run?  This may mean that you don’t get to be the “cool” parent or their friend for a while, but I don’t think either of those should be the goal.  I struggle with parents who say, “My teen didn’t want to do that” like they are leaving it up to the teen to decide what is best for their future.  Did you know what to do all the time when you were a teenager?  Let me answer: NO!!!  That is why God put parents in your life- to guide you, to direct you, to make you do things that you didn’t want to do because they knew it would pay off in the future

It’s like preventative maintenance on your vehicle.  You do things to your car- change the oil, the air filter, spark plugs- to make sure that it functions in the best way possible, and for as long as possible.  You don’t just wait until something breaks and you’re left on the side of I-270 before you fix it. No you try and take care of your car.

Aren’t your teens worth more effort than your car?