Take 5 minutes to watch this excerpt from a recent Matt Chandler message.
Here’s what we learned. There’s data now to back this up. Kids are not being secularized in college. They’re being secularized at home before they’re sent to college by well-meaning Christian parents who can’t tease out the value balance between sports, activities, and the gathering of the people of God.
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Can you imagine going and trying to wake up your kid for school at whatever time you have to wake them up and them just going, “I’m not feeling it. I’m not going”? “Oh, okay. Well, never mind then.” To parent that way… Listen. I’m for you. I’m not against you. I’m not trying to shame you. To parent this way… This is what’s true about the data. Half-hearted obedience to Jesus Christ in this generation leads to full rebellion against him in the next.
I don’t think sports, choir, band or whatever 5 things kids get involved in are necessarily bad. As a kid, I took art classes, swimming lessons, played soccer and even was on a bowling team, if you can believe it. One of the best things about childhood is the permission (and even blessing) of doing a lot of different things. This is how we grow and discover the things we’re good at: by trying out a lot of different things and having permission to be bad at them.
Parents in the last few decades have forgotten this key part, though. It’s ok if your kid isn’t the best quarterback. It’s ok if he’s bad. It’s ok if he doesn’t spend every waking moment eating, thinking and breathing football, soccer or band.
Parent, you are probably not raising the next Tiger Woods or John Elway. It’s ok if your kid sometimes misses practice. It’s ok to play sports or band or do something and not be the absolute best at it. Don’t get your priorities all out of whack.