"Snippets" from David
 

The Ultimate Generation Gap

Among the greatest frustrations of being a parent is the dreaded generation gap! When a baby is born into a family, the common reaction is, "This is incredible! This is marvelous! This is wonderful!" In awe, grandparents and parents look at this new life in joyful astonishment.

Sixteen short [or long!] years later, parents often look at the same child and say, "Did this person really come from me?" This child's music of choice sounds strange. This child's values are strange. This child's definition of responsibility definitely does not fit the parent's concept of responsibility. Many nights the child goes to bed wondering, "Why did I have to be born into this family?" On the same nights the stressed parents go to bed muttering aloud, "This child simply does not belong in this household!"

Ah! Wondrous generation gap!

Parents, when you feel sorry for yourselves on a particularly stressful parenting day, think about Adam and Eve. They experienced the Garden of Eden, but could not convey the experience to their children. They unquestionably knew realities about good and evil they could not share with their kids. They understood realities about the consequences of choices that no other human has ever known. Quite realistically they understood the costs of evil in every day terms. Truly their experiences were unique! No one ever understood quite as they that evil is never a blessing--no matter how the situation appears!

And, yet, they could not share what they knew with their own children! Wonder how they felt when one of their sons became a selfish, unapologetically murder!

Parents, tell what you can tell. Share what you can share. Above all, be what you can be. Words are powerful, but examples are unforgettable! Use both--every day!

19 May, 2005
David Chadwell