“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.”
There are two gifts remaining at my house, although
Christmas is over and the New Year has begun.
These two gifts mean more to mean than any gift this year,
and they are not for me or from me. They
are for my son’s friends. My son is 28
years old, married, and lives 6 hours away now, but he left a Christmas gift
for each of his two best childhood friends.
They’ll stop by to pick them up at their convenience. I have no idea what is inside, and it will be
great to see his childhood friends again, but the thing that means so much to
me is that my son made good choices in friends as a child.
Moms, help your children surround themselves with Good
Friends! It is not always easy, but it
is so important. This son of mine was
not homeschooled through middle school and high school. He went to public school, and not even one of
the better public schools in our town.
He rode the bus, played in the neighborhood and associated with many
people. He is a very social person and
had an abundance of friends. But we did
not always allow him to play with everyone.
Yes, I was That Mom! I encourage
you to be, too!
When we discovered that one of the neighborhood kids had
started smoking, we discouraged him from hanging out with him. Did our son like it? No, he did not. Did that stop us? No, it did not. My son didn’t always like me very much
through middle and high school. I had
other smaller children that loved me at that time, so that probably made it
easier for me:) When several of the boys in the neighborhood
started experimenting with pot, we enrolled our son in Band, Scouts, and
football. We kept him so busy, he didn’t
have time to cruise the neighborhood with nothing to do. And we just said, “NO!”
We also taught him what the Bible teaches us about “companions”. You have a Bible, I’ll let you read Proverbs
for yourself – but I will encourage you to teach it to your children. Don’t wait until they’re 13; you will have a
much harder time reaching them then. The
best window of time is from about ages 5 or 6 until about 10 to 12. That’s when you can teach them and they’ll
hear you. But if they’re already in
their teens, don’t wait, start today! Tell them over and over, that they will
become the average of the people they consistently surround themselves with. Be the mom you know to be, saying no to
spending time with people that don't help you be your best.
Please don’t get the wrong impression. My children are not perfect, I am not
perfect. My children and I have made plenty of mistakes and have done
foolish things. I’ll save my blog about
all my mistakes for another day…
“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.”
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