A conversation with my friend, Becky, has gotten me thinking a lot about trajectory in parenting.
To me this means having a clear idea of where you want your child to be on his or her 18th birthday. Not a physical location, or even a "they should be in college" type thing. I mean thinking about what it means to be a fully functional adult, and how to get there from "It's a boy!" in 18 years.
I want my kids to be deeply connected to God, to draw life and guidance from their relationship with Him. I want that life to spill out into the lives of others.
I want them to be able to confidently navigate daily life (feed, clean and care for themselves).
I want them to able to handle their own finances.
I want them to know how to find out what they want to know, and to want to know lots of things.
I want them to be able to sort out truth from error.
I want them to have a knowledge base that allows them to do whatever God calls them to do.
I want them to able to drive and be able to literally navigate their way through life!
I want them to be comfortable in their own skin, to know who God created them to be and to be excited about being that person.
I want them to be able to think of others and to look at a situation and think about how to make it better.
Where do you want your kids to be? Do you have an intentional trajectory?
2 comments:
I think today is going to be one of those days where I just hope they can go potty without involving me. O:-)
However, I think your list is excellent!
I like the Queen's comment :) as I try to start training my nephew who is with us for a while. I also have started thinking about the same things as my eldest is now 16 and entering junior year. You have a great list and it can't be too long and detailed or you get overwhelmed. I'm starting to look for trends in his interests to start guiding him towards a career but I don't see anything right now. I trust that God will help us with that. The 2 things I do want him to be are humble and hard working. I think those probably fit somewhere in your list but I like saying them explicitly because I think many young people today are neither.
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