We have 3 children but are afraid of raising them in today's culture. We want to move to the country and do home-schooling but our parents think we're overreacting. Are we?
I see something I think is very toxic in a lot of parents. It’s what I call “fear-based parenting.”
Because, you see, fear-based parenting causes us to make our decisions and our strategy for raising our kids based on what intimidates us.
Now, think about this. Let’s say there is a football team, and they are going to play the opposing team, and they are gathered and huddled up around their coach, and somebody’s talking with them, and the coach says, “Now, boy, that team over there, they’re pretty big, and they are a lot bigger than us. I think they are a lot faster than us. They have a better win-loss record. They scare the heck out of us,” and all the team members are saying, “Boy, I’m really scared, too, but let’s go out there and play them.”
What’s going to be the outcome of this game?
I don’t even know why they are bothering to go out. They are going to get defeated—because, you see, if you let fears set the stage and set the plan, you are usually going to lose.
Now, just let me speak to the heart here. If you are a person of faith, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and you are a parent, and you are scared of what is going on out there, and you say, “I’m scared of Hollywood. I’m scared of the internet. I’m scared of the forces of darkness. My kids are so vulnerable,” those are all maybe legitimate things, but if you are letting them get the best of you, then you already are communicating to your kids that our God is too small, He cannot get us through this thing, and we’re going to have to take matters into our own hands.
Automatically, that bankrupts your plan.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you should be the last person afraid of anything. See, our God is mighty. He’s huge. He had the first word. He’s the Alpha. He’s going to have the last word. He’s the Omega. He is sitting on His throne. He is not the least bit panicked. But when we are, we are saying to our kids, “He can’t handle this.”
May I suggest to you that before you go into the country and change the education configuration of your family, make sure that you do that for the right reasons. Don’t let fear set the stage for your family, because it will only backfire on you. You need to be confident you have a great God. He is going to show you how to raise these kids, no matter how bad the world is.