Change Overreaction into Interaction

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,

and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,

Proverbs 1:8

Communication with our children is vital. When guest speaker Jonathan McKee was here, he stressed how very important that was. He stated, “We must change overreaction into interaction.” How often do we as parents overreact and push the “panic” button when we see or hear about a situation that involves our children that does not sit well with our values. I for one have probably had to change the batteries in my “panic” button over these past years.

Just recently God ordained an opportunity for Kerry and I to interact and communicate with our daughters on a situation that they heard about that involved school friends of theirs. Some of those friends made great choices and some made not so wise choices. As the four of us discussed the choices made we also took time to discuss what choices they would have made as well as some of the not so wise choices Kerry and I made in High School. We discussed the consequences of choices, the responsibility given to our young adults now-a-days, as well as what we would expect from both of them.

Bottom line, Kerry and I did not plan to have a moral discussion on the choices that teenagers make and the results that stem from those choices; however, God placed the opportunity in our lives and we made sure to make the time to place a foundation of truth and love.

It truly brought Proverbs 1:8 into full light. At that very moment both father and mother were there to instruct, disciple, direct and teach the children that God has placed into their lives. The command in that verse is to the child, yet we as parents must be always ready for those times of instruction and teaching.

Kerry and I will not have all the answers, but with God’s grace, wisdom and our willingness to interact instead of overreacting, it will be a good conversation.