Partners in Parenting

“Hold on Tight or Hold on Loosely?!”

This past weekend, I was enjoying some time in the woods with my son.  We heard thunder in the distance, but honestly, we heard that in the morning and only got a few sprinkles.  Once we realized we were in for a whole lot more than a few sprinkles, I sent my son down out of our tree stand while I gathered up all our hunting stuff.  Just as I was ready to start climbing down from the tree stand, the wind blew so hard that I had to hold on to the tree for my own safety.  While I was still holding on tightly to the tree, the rain started.  Not regular rain – monsoon-style rain.  For about a minute, I just held on tight to that tree.  Once on the ground, we started our walk to the truck.

On the drive home, I thought about how being a parent is sometimes like holding on to that tree.  Out of fear, I held on tight to that tree.  Out of fear, I sometimes hold on too tight to my kids.  Kids need experiences as they grow and mature.  Experiences bring about inherent risk and danger.  For instance, soccer is fun, but you can get hurt.  Should I let them play soccer or protect them from injury.  Soccer isn’t evil, so letting them play would be fine.  That is a simple example of finding balance with parenting.  Evil is what we should avoid.  “Hold on loosely, but don’t let go” was the line from a 38 Special song a few years back.  That describes balance with many things of parenting.  Holding on tight can be useful if we truly fear evil things for our children, but most of the time, holding on loosely will suffice. 

“Test everything.  Hold on to the good.  Avoid every kind of evil.”  I Thessalonians 5:21, 22

Family Discussion Points!

Parents only:  Talk about where you are holding on too tightly with your parenting.

Talk about lots of fun activities that involve risk every time you do them, but you do them anyway.  Why still do them??

Holding on more loosely will be very stressful as a parent.  It is helpful to daily pray to God that He will keep your kids in His care.  He does whether you pray it or not, but it is helpful that you acknowledge it daily!!