Parenting

Professional baseball has been played in America since 1875, but on September 14, 1990, something happened that has never happened before or since. Late in his career, Ken Griffey, Sr., who had been a key member of the World Series champion Cincinnati Reds years before, was signed by the Seattle Mariners. His son Ken Griffey, Jr. was just starting his major league career. In the first inning of a game against the Angels, Griffey, Sr. hit a home run to left center field. His son followed him to the plate and hit another home run to almost exactly the same spot.

The story is told about a stage coach company was hiring teamsters to drive its stage coaches through a mountainous area. The local office manager had advertised for the position and people began to apply for the job. As they were interviewed, the boss asked each applicant, “How close can you drive the team to the edge of the cliff as you round the mountain.” The first fellow replied that he was skilled enough that he could drive the stage coach within three feet of the edge of the cliff. The boss thanked him for his time and called in the next applicant.

An elderly lady was amazed at how nice the young man was next door. Everyday he would help her gather things from her car or help her in her yard. One day the old lady finally asked the young man, “Son, how did you become such a fine young man?"

The young man replied, “Well, when I was a boy, I had a drug problem.”

The old lady was shocked, “I can’t believe that.”

The young man replied, “It’s true, my parents drug me to church on Sunday morning, drug me to church on Sunday night, and drug me to church on Wednesday night.”

Source: Unknown

Things are precious, often because of their relationship. The most precious thing a mother has is her dear babe. We all love those who are near to us by the ties of nature. Precious, therefore, in the sight of the Lord are His saints, because they are born in His household, by regeneration made to be His sons and daughters.

Somebody said that a child is carried in its mother’s womb for nine months.
Somebody does not know that a child is carried in its mother’s heart forever.

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby.
Somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother, normal is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct.
Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

Somebody said being a mother is boring.
Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver’s permit.

This year’s annual Easter egg hunt in Colorado Springs, Colorado was canceled because of misbehaving parents last year. Many parents entered the roped-off area reserved for the children and helped them collect the eggs. This ended the hunt in seconds and left many children with no eggs.

Charles Francis Adams, son of President John Quincy Adams and grandson of President John Adams, kept a diary. One day he entered: “Went fishing with my son today—a day wasted.”

His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: “Went fishing with my father—the most wonderful day of my life!” The father thought he was wasting time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time.

In 1978, Thomas Hansen of Boulder Colorado, sued his parents for $350,000 on grounds of “malpractice of parenting.” Mom and Dad had botched his upbringing so badly, he charged in his suit, that he would need years of costly psychiatric treatment.

Source: The Modesto Bee and News-Herald, April 28, 1978

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Benjamin Spock led the way among child rearing professionals in instructing parents not to discipline their children. He said that doing so would damage children’s ego. Later in his life he realized that he had made a mistake and said:

The English poet Samuel Coleridge talked with a man who did not believe that children should be given any religious instruction at all.

This man claimed that the child’s mind should not be prejudiced in any direction, and when he became older he should be permitted to choose his religious opinions for himself.

A little boy said to his mother, “Can I go outside and help Daddy put snow chains on the car? I know all the words.”

Always remember that those who come behind you are copying you.

Source: Unknown

Someone said that the main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

Source: Unknown

A dad with five children was picking up toys in the back yard.  He said to his wife, “You know since we had children I’ve learned the meaning of, ‘When I became a man I put away childish things.’”

Source: Unknown

“By profession, I am a soldier, and take pride in that fact, but I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build; a father only builds, never destroys.  The one has the potentialities of death; the other embodies creation of life; and while the hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me, not from the battle, but in the home repeating with him our simple, daily prayer, our Father Who art in Heaven.”—General Douglas MacArthur

Executives of a greeting-card company decided to do something special for Mother’s Day. They set up a table in a federal prison, inviting inmates to send a free card to their Mom. The lines were so long they had to to get more cards.

Due to the success of that event, they decided to do the same thing on Father’s Day, but this time, not one prisoner felt the need to send a card to his Dad. In fact, when asked about it, many had no idea who their fathers were.

Source: Bringing up Boys, James Dobson

The English poet, Alexander Pope, wrote, “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” When new trees are planted stakes are often put into the ground beside the tree. The stakes are there for a purpose—to train the tree to grow straight and tall.

Those stakes work remarkably well if they are put in place when the tree is young. But If crooked growth has been allowed to develop for several years, they will not be effective. Rules for our children work the same way.

Some parents say, “I don’t believe in making kids go to church. They will resent it later.”

Do you make them brush their teeth? Have you ever heard a teenager say, “When I turn eighteen I will not brush my teeth again!”

Source: Unknown

“It may be hard on some fathers not to have a son, but it is so much harder on a boy not to have a father.”-S.D. Gilbert

Source: King Me, Steve Farrar

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Your work is an expression of the image of God in you, and it's worth thinking about how your work reflects His character. Work as simple as cleaning out a closet reflects the God who makes order out of chaos. Holding a stop sign for children to cross the road creates an environment of safety that reflects the God who protects. The person who flips burgers is providing food, which is something that God does. A father or mother who nurtures a child reflects the love, patience, and perseverance of God.

A New York Times article on people who are sick of too many hours at work tells the story of Diane Knorr, a former dot—com executive: “The first time I got a call way after hours from a senior manager, I remember being really flattered and thinking, wow! I'm really getting up there now.” But gradually, her work and family life became a blur with hours that were hard to scale back. “If I leave at 5:00 and everyone else leaves at 6:30, I might look like the one who is not pulling his weight,” she said. In college, Mrs.