As summer begins to wind down, kids not only have to begin thinking about towing the line during the day in class and preparing for the next day at school at night, they also have to prep for the challenges of their academic lives and the often monumental task of deciding their place in the world among friends, teachers, peers, and even bullies. Parents, too, feel the pressures of creating a solid and nurturing environment for their families and sometimes forget that, with each season of back-to-school, learning opportunities abound for them as well.
Beginnings bring a recurring sense of renewal and hope. Back-to-school is no different. For the adults packing the lunches and sending the kids off on the buses, the opportunity exists to remember and renew our own sense of learning.
We can take what Proverbs 15:5 (NIV) tells us about being open to teaching opportunities: “A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.” In reflection, we should remember what we learned from our own parents and take some of those lessons to our own children and families.
As we send our young adults off to their first year of college and new kindergartners off to their first classroom experiences, we can take moments to remember when our own lives were being shaped by others and when our biggest goals in life were to absorb what we were learning in school and in church. We can ask ourselves if we are teaching what we learned and imparting our wisdom and experience to those who need it.
As a young man, I knew coaches who required that their players accomplish certain things over the summer break: eat right, exercise every day and show up for pre-season training ready to work hard. The ability to receive direction while setting goals and following through on these directives at a young age is imperative to success in all things. This brings me to the following verse that children and parents alike are familiar with. Colossians 3:20 says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord” (NIV). We heard it so often in Sunday school and from grandparents and aunts and uncles who would scold us using this verse that we might not even actually truly hear it anymore for its true meaning. But, we must apply the positive lessons that we learned as children to teach the children that now depend on us for their growth and successful development.
This is a new year full of new opportunities. We should all go into this back-to-school season with open hearts and minds, understanding that we all play a role in the development of future generations.
