A Parent You Can Be Proud Of

Thursday, February 28, 2013

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I guess parental pride comes with your baby's birth certificate. You know, you brag about their first word, their first steps. We show off pictures of our babies, and then if they're ever selected for a solo or starting position later in life, or they get a part in something, or an award, we'll be there with our camera, our video camera, whatever loaded. A parent has a special glow when his son or daughter makes him proud. Of course, it's supposed to work the other way, too.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Parent You Can Be Proud Of."

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Proverbs 17:6. It says, "Children's children are a crown to the aged...and parents are the pride of their children." Now, it doesn't talk about children being the pride of their parents. This is the other way around. Parents are supposed to make their kids proud according to God's Word.

Not so much that the kids are running around showing off pictures of Mom or Dad, or taking lots of photos at some public event where Mom and Dad are on the platform. No, see, parents tend to be proud of their children's achievements; kids tend to be proud of their parent's character. It's not so much what Mom or Dad do that makes a young person proud, it's what they are.

You see, our kids know the realities behind the image everybody else sees, and they're proud of us if the reality - that is the real person that they know they are in a day-in and day-out basis when nobody's looking - if that person is a person of quality, consistency, compassion, selflessness and character. Now, what kind of a parent fulfills this Proverbs profile and makes their son or daughter proud?

First of all, I think it's one who treats their friends with respect. You may or may not like all the choices of friends that your child makes, but you make them proud when as their friends come and go, their friends are treated specially, they're given good treatment; they're given royal treatment. They get a sense of how valuable they are to God. By the way, if you want to have influence over your child's friends, well you win the right to comment on their friends as you treat them special when they're with you.

I think another way to be a parent they can be proud of is to treat them with respect in public. Discipline them, correct them in private; praise, brag about them, build them up when you're in public.

Thirdly, I think you can be a parent to be proud of when you treat their views with respect. Hear them out; don't respond like you know what they're going to say or you don't value it. Hear the whole paragraph, the whole page, not just a sentence. And respect their privacy. I think a parent to be proud of has a positive attitude, you're not a complainer, a whiner or a critic. And you respect other views, but you take a stand for your own.

When my daughter was in college, she was homesick one time, and somebody said, "Why?" She said, "Because I miss talking to my best friend." They said, "Who's that?" She said, "Oh, that's my Mom." See, it may not be cool to advertise that your best friend is your Mother. My daughter has in her Mother a parent to be proud of. I can only hope the same is true for my sons with their Father.

God intends that your character, your attitude of respect and love, be a source of pride to your son and daughter. So, I hope your child has a parent to be proud of.