The Hope QuotientSample

How do you build an environment to motivate kids in the direction of your morals, your faith, and your values? Here’s two barriers and three builders that will help.

Barrier #1: Don’t delay joyful living until your kids leave home. I have met countless parents whose strategy seems to be to stay uptight, focused, and miserable until the kids turn eighteen. Nobody is attracted to that kind of shame-based, tension-filled parenting. The alternative is for the number one sound in your house to be laughter, and the strongest memories made are the vacations you took, not the lectures you delivered. Your kids are attracted by the life you live, not the speeches you give. 

Barrier #2: Don’t be intimidated by a too-cool-for-life teen. Sure, they’re younger and probably thinner, they think they’re cooler, and Hollywood tells them they’re smarter. There’s a difference, however, between acting sophisticated and being mature.

Builder #1: Stay future-focused. What would happen if we related to our kids consistently on the basis of future hope? That’s what Jesus did for Peter. After he denied Jesus, Peter saw Jesus again and probably thought, Am I going to been seen as a son or a sinner? Instead, Jesus gave him a future-tense assignment, “Feed my sheep.” In one conversation, Jesus freed Peter from his past, restored their relationship, and set Peter free for what was going to be a powerful future. 

Builder #2: Believe that God can use kids and teenagers. God can use kids. The same Spirit who directs and energizes adult believers also directs and energizes young believers. When we underestimate our kids, we rob them of hope and also diminish our own supplies. Never underestimate what the Holy Spirit will do in a child’s life.

Builder #3: Expose your kids to significant events and experiences. I believe in education, but I pulled my kids out of school at times to have high octane experiences to captivate their hearts and minds. This showed them school wouldn’t last forever, so why wreck their life to please a bunch of people they’ll never see again? 

Let’s learn to turn our kids on, not off. They’re more capable than you think.

Think Up:

The best question to raise hope in anybody of any age is, “What can he or she become?”

When it’s time to let the arrows fly, will the hope you instilled in them help them fly straight and true? (Read on).