Two Words Our Kids Don’t Know . . . And Desperately Need To
1. chiv·al·ry [shiv’-uhl-ree]
noun. The sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms.
When I was in high school, it was considered funny and cool to put boys down. The days of male domination were over! We were asserting our independence! Stupid boys didn’t know a thing about anything! I loved to hear myself “roar.” But once I became an adult and got married, I realized that we women purchased our independence with men’s natural desire to protect, respect, and provide for their families–wives included.
Gals: let men and boys open doors for you, stand when you enter a room, call you ma’am, suggest that you quit your job and stay home with the kids. Don’t let society tell you that he is controlling and power hungry. We’ve proved ourselves extremely competent in every professional field, and have power in every reach of private and governmental influence. Now it’s time to allow men to show us they love us, in their way.
2. stew·ard·ship [stoo’-erd-ship]
noun. The responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.
We hear this term often regarding the environment. We need to be good stewards of the land, of animals, of the air we breath. This is all true. But do our kids really understand the deeper and more important concept of stewardship over others? As parents, we practice our stewardship by caring for and nurturing our children’s bodies and minds every day. It’s a solemn responsibility, and one that no one else can take on for us. Kids need to understand that they cannot be replaced. They are unique, and no one else will fulfill their life mission for them. This applies to their responsibilities as students, as siblings, as children of a parent, and all other roles they fill in the world around them.
How do we instill stewardship in our children? By allowing them to make decisions once we have armed them with all the information necessary, and by allowing the consequences of those decisions to happen. It gets more and more difficult to do this as our children grow and the consequences become more severe and far-reaching. But it’s vital to their well-being.
