Oh, the Guilt

What a terrible blogsitter I am. I know it's not an excuse, but I've been rather busy this week at our annual summer kids club. 260 ankle-biters have invaded our building every morning all week. We regroup in the afternoons and then prepare for the onslaught the next morning. They were actually pretty good kids, but once again we were saddened by how love-starved many of the children were, craving any sort of love or attention. As our bus picked many of them up each morning, a few were literally pushed onto the bus by parents who just wanted them out of their hair for a few hours. They'll send them to another church this week, and another the week after that. Cheap babysitting, I guess. I stood in line at the bank a few weeks ago. A little girl (6 or 7) was ahead of me with her mother, trying desperately to engage her in conversation. Her Mom woudn't give her the time of day. At the end of the one-sided conversation, she told her daughter, "What do you know. You're just a kid. Now be quiet." Nothing like a bit of affirmation to make a kid feel special, especially in front of a crowd. Parenting is always a challenge, and we have good days and bad days. But when I tuck my girls into bed every night, I thank God for them. When they're not around (or I'm not around) I miss them. They really are a treasure from the Lord. So it's kind of depressing to see other kids devalued by their parents. Let's show kids we care. Not just our kids, but ALL kids.

Comments

[Phillip Swindall]

"Cheap babysitting." Reminds me of a time when I was Minister of Education at a church here in the deep south. One of the "blue hairs" complained that "all Vacation Bible School is to these people is free daycare!" To which I responded, "OK!!!! If we recognize this, then, why can't we give them the BEST free daycare for a week than they'll get from ANY OTHER CHURCH IN THE AREA! Let's take VBS from half a day to a whole day. Lets add a lunch instead of just snacks. Lets expand the entire VBS program to stretch across the whole day so that teachers won't complain that they didn't have long enough to teach their lesson. Lets give the kids solid, stable, sacrificial LOVE for 8 hours + a day for five days a week and see how it impacts their lives. And, while we're at it... lets let the parents know that THEY have to come pick their kids up at 5 p.m. when we know that we'll be starting the kids worship service from 4:30-5:30 p.m., so that the parents hear the message and theme of the day, as well!" Guess what their response was??? (Hint: I'm a bivocational Sr. Pastor making about 1/7th what I was making at that church two years ago!) Shame. Daryl, my suggestion... take the position of leader and do, as Andy Stanley said at Catalyst (wish I could afford it) and lead from courage! At the same time, make sure you're doing what Louie Giglio suggested, lead from humility in your position in relation to God! Great blog, by the way!