Train Your Children in the Way They Should Go

A sermon I heard years ago still resonates

I sat in the pew fidgeting. I was in my twenties and still living at home under my parent’s rules. The rule I hated the most was that I had to go to church on Sundays.

Quite often, I would sit there hung-over. I tapped my feet and shifted in the pew until the Preacher began speaking. On that Sunday, I sat riveted until the sermon was over.

The sermon got my attention

The topic of the sermon was, “ Train your children in the way they should go.” The preacher’s point was that we all have God-given talents and gifts, and it’s the parent’s responsibility to nurture those gifts their children have and encourage them.

At this time in my life, I couldn’t keep a job. My parents insisted that I participate in vocational rehabilitation programs.

Things didn’t work out at all. After an evaluation, it was determined that I had poor spatial skills and very poor hand-eye coordination. The obvious thing to do was to place me in a meat-cutting class.

My mom told me years later, that she prayed every day that I wouldn’t cut off my fingers.

I wonder what might have been. What if I could have figured out what my talents and interest were when I was young.

I study other Dyslexics. I read everything I can about them. The common thread to all the successful ones is they found their passion when they were young, and they worked tirelessly to achieve their goals.

I didn’t think about the future

When I was in school, I concentrated on passing with as little effort as possible. The only things I had a passion for were alcohol and weed. If I concentrated on school, things might have been easier later.

Nurture your children’s dreams as they get older. Encourage them to follow those dreams, regardless if they have learning disabilities or if they do not.

No one has ever questioned my work ethic. I wasted an awful lot of energy in my life trying to learn things I wasn’t able to learn and chasing after jobs I couldn’t do.

I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had found my passion for writing at a younger age. If I would have worked as hard at it then as I do now.

I might be making a living as a writer instead of surviving on disability. Worrying about what-might-have-been is stupid. I can’t change the past, but I can control the present by working hard and being teachable.

The takeaway

Train your children; encourage them, especially if they have learning disabilities. Life is hard enough, but it’s harder without skills and gainful employment and direction.