Parenting

Over the month of July 2012, my wife and I have had the privilege of hosting a 16 year old student from Cali, Colombia. This student (we will call her Alliy) apparently came to the United States to party and not necessarily to learn English and the American culture as her school curriculum suggested. One could perhaps attribute this to her young age or to the propaganda that had been fed into her mind through movies but nevertheless, she hit the ground running. Days after her arrival, she was attending parties and staying out till 1am. Over time she started coming back to the house at 5am after partying. An imposed curfew did little or nothing to help. Alliy came to the United States with a lot of money and spent at will, inferring that she had a lot of financial resources at her disposal. She once told me she had a house helper back home who did everything for her including the delivery of food while she was in bed. Thankfully, I’ve had the privilege of traveling and meeting several people from around the world and I know this not to be the norm.

While this partying lifestyle was not the best experience for my family and I, we did learn a lot. We learnt that we had to step up our parenting game. We thought much of our 2 young daughters being 16 years old. That under no circumstance can my daughters at 16, leave the house for a party and come back at 1:00am. If this were the case, according to the Atlanta Parent Magazine, not only would their safety be breached and their morals questioned, but our success as parents will be up for contention. We have our work cut out, please pray for us.

Train up a child …

Our experience with Alliy, while not the best, reinforced in us a fervent zeal to cherish the time and opportunity we currently have with our 2 young daughters. To invest massively and aggressively in them not just with our resources but more importantly, with our time – to ensure they turn out to be God fearing Christians, that they turn out as champions. Not that this is all within our power to accomplish, but we are determined to do our very best. And in so doing, comply with the scripture found in proverbs 22:6: