Discussing
Free-range kids and resurrection parenting

In a culture torn between free-range kids and helicopter parents, Christians can find comfort in resurrection parenting.

Branson- Well done brother. During a recent morning of prayer I found myself releasing my kids into God's care for another day and was greatly relieved that he loves them infinitely more than I ever could. There is a freedom (and fear, to be certain) in knowing that God is shaping their lives towards his own ends and for his own purposes. Some days that causes me to worship, other times it keeps me awake a night. Every day it reminds me that while I am a father, I am first and foremost a son myself. From one TC writer to another, bravo.

A few years ago, Psychology Today released an article called, "A Nation of Wimps." . In it, the concept of, "hover parenting," was challenged, pointing out that it has lead to a group of children who are incapable of overcoming adversity. Their lives are unfolded before them in a failure-proof vacuum with no opportunity to develop the skills of resilience. Stanford research psychologist, Carol Dweck (AWESOME read for parents and available on Audible), explored this phenomenon in her book, Mindset and has offered pretty solid proof that the ability to fail well is the only shared ingredient in the lives of successful people. This seems to suggest that our job as parents would be wisely approached with the thought that allowing kids to flop from time to time is highly in their favor.
Once, both of my (at the time VERY small) children were simultaneously undergoing invasive testing procedures for different ominous health-scares. They both turned out to be fine, but God was so gracious, one evening, in one of my fitful moments of hand-wringing, when He spoke into my spirit saying, "Yours is not to spare the children from the trials in this life. Yours is to work to equip them to face these trials because there will be some that I have crafted for their growth." Now, if only I can remember that when the homework isn't finished or the boy forgot the snack...