were all the planets, and they were wobbling in rotation around the person’s
head. When asked about it, she replied, “Everyone tells me I think I’m the
center of the universe!”
If we were honest, we might admit that we also think that we are the center of everything. Usually our first thought in any situation is how it will affect us personally, negatively or positively. So, it is not surprising that our children have this problem too.
However, as parents, we have a responsibility to help our children understand their true place in the world. Right understanding is that God is the center of all things and that our value only comes through His love
of us. And, He ascribes GREAT value to us!
Likewise, we want children to understand their place in our homes as being dearly loved, but not the ruler of all things. I listened to a radio program the other day where a family was struggling with their nine-year-old who stopped eating meat. The problem was his insistence that everyone else in the family join him in being vegetarian. Anytime someone in his family ate meat, he would break down crying. Yielding to him, the parents were giving a nine-year-old power over decision-making for the family.
Whatever your views on vegetarianism, the trouble with this approach to child-rearing is that giving a child an authority over the family that rightly belongs to parents in the long run can be deeply upsetting to the child. Alternatively, the happy submission of a child to the loving authority of parents is a great blessing to him or her, just as our submission to God’s loving authority is profoundly good for us. Parents do know better, and they protect their children from a scary world and responsibilities for which they are not yet ready. At Trinity, we also teach children to respect their teachers, that they do not rule the classroom, and that they are not the center of it. Furthermore, we direct them toward the authority of their parents.
As parents we know that our children are infinitely valuable. And out of our deep love for them, we want to give them everything. However, if we truly care for them, we will follow God’s example by giving them unconditional love, not unconditional license.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Jennifer Cable
Elementary Principal