Help me understand something. The old cliche states, "the height of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," right? Well, I watched a news brief this morning that left me just shaking my head once again at the parents of today. They so many don't seem to get this concept.The news feature reported of a ten year old girl that aspires going on "American Idol" when she gets older. Her parents are helping her pursue this dream by posting her singing online using Youtube and blogs. In recent years there seems to be an increase in the number of young performers coming into the lime light as they clamour for fame and fortune. Popular shows like "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" (et al) have helped to fuel this.
But it doesn't seem to mean anything that the vast majority of kids that reach stardom end up in rehab. Poster children for this would include Brittany Spears, Michael Jackson, Mary Kate & Ashley. I guess there is a level of parental denial that takes place here.
My own girls, I believe, are artistic, little performers, and I hope to encourage their using whatever giftings they have to honor the Lord. But as a parent, my main goal is for them to not have fame, but character. Not fortune, but personal responsibility. Not talent, but integrity. Not to be happy, but to be holy. However in typical fashion, the world has put the cart before the horse.
We recently had an opportunity to get our oldest involved in a program called Upwards Basketball. This program's primary goal is to encourage character on and off the field. I shared that we had placed Melody in this program, with a group of guys, and one of the guys very quickly declared, that she would learn very little about how to play basketball. Which, if that is true, I am totally okay with. I am far more concerned with her being able to begin seeing what it is like to work as a team, endure suffering and defeat, and begin to experience hard work and personal responsibility.
Parents, lets take back the reigns from the the world telling our kids that they must be rich and famous in order to have worth. Let's encourage our kids to dream and strive for excellence, but to keep in perspective that which will truly last forever, not this stuff that moth and rust will destroy.
"Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it."
-- Proverbs 22:6
3 comments:
I totally agree with you Tony. Adam and I definitely want the same for our girls. It's a pretty scary world they are growing up in!
Jen, the scariest part is that Christians too often are right there comepeting with the world for the world's goods! Thanks for commenting!
Can you imagine what the world would be like if there were more parents like you and Jill. I think the biggest problem at hand, though, is that there are children having children. They can't raise themselves muchless another human being. What's worse is that many of these new parents have very little supervision themselves (humm - maybe the reason for the unplanned pregnancy to begin with). Melody and Selah are very lucky to have two loving, and God-fearing parents. Of course, they are also very lucky to have such a wonderful Aunt Shero who loves and adores them too! ;-)!!
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