My husband came home from work a couple months ago with a “quote” from his boss, Mike Farris of HSLDA.  The gist of it was, “I used to think that good parenting meant raising good kids.  Then I realized it wasn’t about raising good kids, but about raising good adults.  Then I realized it wasn’t even about raising good adults, but about raising good parents.” (Sorry, Mike, if I’ve totally destroyed your quote after receiving it secondhand and the passage of time; hopefully I’ve retained the heart of the message!)

*****

Good parenting isn’t about raising well-behaved kids or functioning adults, but about raising effective PARENTS.  <– Click to Tweet.

*****

He’s so right!  Raising well-behaved children is a good start.  (Heaven knows, I’d be thrilled most days if we could get this far!)  But it’s not enough by itself.  It isn’t even enough, and and of itself, to raise children who are well-functioning adults – although, obviously, we want that!  If they aren’t equipped to raise their own children, to pass on the faith, our legacy ends with them.

God said in the Old Testament that He’d known Abraham “in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD…” (Gen. 18:19)  The implication is that he would teach his children the way of the LORD, and they would pass that down.  The descriptions of many of the feasts carry the same message – “you do this every year perpetually, so your children, and their children, and their children, and so on will know the LORD and His ways.”

Is your vision of parenting long-term, or short-sighted?