Parenting Fears: Fear of the Unknown

by Whitney Jones

If you are anything like me you want to control every minute of your child’s life. What they wear, the friends they hang out with, the sports they play, the college they go to, the food they eat…the list is endless. As parents we try so hard to have control over our children’s lives so that we can rest assured that nothing “bad” will ever enter their lives.

Now yes, we do need to guide our children. The Bible even tells us in Proverbs 22:6 “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”

However, in Proverbs it says to guide our children. It does not say to choose the path for them. Many parents want to make all the choices for their child, but this can hurt your child in the long run. When parents teach their child how to make decisions, rather than make the decision for them, the child is able to learn from their mistakes. Train your children to choose the right path rather than choosing that path for them.

Sending my daughter to middle school was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. All of these feelings of fear entered my mind. She’s going to be exposed to other teenagers that won’t be making wise choices. She might choose to start hanging out with friends that we don’t approve of. She could be offered drugs. She will have raging hormones and so will other teenagers. She won’t care about school anymore. She will make unwise decisions that will mold her future. All of these fears overcame me and instead of handing these fears of the unknown to God, I let them consume me. I neglected to remember that fear is just a feeling, it’s not reality.

This experience brought to mind a biblical mother who literally had to give the fear of the unknown to God and trust that He would take care of her child. She had to put her son in a basket and she entrusted him into God's care. Moses' mother Jochebed had to face the fear of the unknown just like we have to face the fear of the unknown with our children. 

Jochebed hid her newborn son Moses for three months, but then knew she could protect him no longer. So the Bible tells us, "she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River" (Exodus 2:3b, NLT).

How many of you would have a really hard time with this? Putting your small baby in a basket to watch him float away in the Nile River. I definitely would!

Sending my daughter to middle school was hard and it still has its challenges, but imagine how Jochebed must have felt, watching her precious baby floating down the river in a basket. A million things could have gone wrong. She could have fretted over every worst-case scenario possible. Instead, she entrusted her child to God.

Although we don't know exactly what Jochebed was feeling, I like to think she believed God had a plan and purpose for her child's life, giving her the courage to step away from the basket. In the same, God has beautiful plans for our children. We must step away and let God take control. We need to trust and believe that God loves our children even more than we love our children.

As parents, we want to keep our kids safe, protect them from pain, fix their problems, make their decisions and steer them in the right direction. However, there comes a time when we realize we aren't in control anymore and have to accept that our children's futures are in God's hands, not ours.

Whether your child is starting kindergarten, middle school, high school or college, this is the time when parents need to trust God and believe He has good plans for their children's lives.

What comfort and peace it brings to remember God is always in control and ever present in our children's lives, even when we can no longer be.

Parenting Fears: Fear of Being Judged

by Leah Dummel

I have a really special and unique group of about 9 girlfriends. Some of us have been friends since 3^rd grade and some of us met in college. Some of us are married with children, some of us have doctorate degrees; some of us are single. One lives in Louisiana, one in Kentucky, and the rest scattered around Indy, all at least a 45 minute drive from the next.

We are all very different yet we talk almost every single day. All 9 of us!

We use this fun app called Marco Polo which if you haven’t heard of it is basically like group Facetime, except it isn’t live. We can leave video messages for the group when it’s convenient for us and catch up on the other messages also at our convenience. It’s awesome, and it has truly helped us all stay in contact.

Something we noticed about our group of friends a year or so ago is that we all apologize for the SILLIEST THINGS! It’s not uncommon for somebody to start their video message with, “hey girls, SORRY it’s been a long time since I’ve been on here” or “SORRY, this message is going to be a long one I have a lot to say” or “SORRY but this is my opinion on this matter”.

We started to ask ourselves why we apologized so much for the strangest things. We were apologizing for not responding to other messages within minutes…because you know…kids and jobs and marriage adult life. We were apologizing for our thoughts and opinions, and for taking the time to share and discuss them with our nearest and dearest. What?!

Once we recognized this problem and spoke it out loud we quickly made a new rule, NO SORRIES! We are no longer allowed to apologize for things that don’t warrant apologies like the weather or time frames or raising our kids or doing well at our jobs or thinking Kate on the show This Is Us is the most annoying character on there. It’s no longer allowed and we quickly call one another out for silly apologies.

Once we brought this up in our group message I started to pay closer attention to people around me, and noticed that EVERYBODY IS APOLOGIZING for things that don’t warrant apologies; and parents are the absolute worst.

We apologize for what we do or don’t feed our kids. We apologize for the way we choose to discipline. We apologize for our thoughts on public school vs home-school. We apologize for the amount of screen time, the number of activities we involve them in, we apologize if we throw a giant birthday party for our toddler or if we throw a tiny birthday party for our toddler, we apologize for dishes being in the sink or toys being on the floor of our living rooms, and the list goes on and on and on.

As I observed and as I contemplated our behavior, it dawned on me that we apologize up front because if we “bring it up first” then we may save ourselves from being judged by the person we are apologizing too.

The longer I am a parent the more I realize that we (parents) spend a lot of our time and energy in fear that other parents, or non-parents, are judging every move we make. Not only that, we spend time and energy comparing the décor of our home or the level of “home cooked” our meals are and how well (or unwell) dressed our kids are to that of our neighbor or social media friends. Friends, this is exhausting, and detrimental to our mental health and our parenting!

Scripture tells us,                                                            

 “When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” 2 Corinthians 10:12b 

It is UNWISE and unsafe to play this comparison game. Comparing ourselves to other parents will steal every ounce of joy that parenting brings. It’s completely counterproductive and living in our fears will destroy us.

As we have been saying all month - fear is just a feeling, it’s not reality. And it comes straight from Satan himself.  Fear (Satan) wants to isolate you. Fear wants us to feel alone. Fear tells us we will never measure up to others and that no matter our efforts we will always fall short. Fear tells us we are bad parents. Fear is a feeling and fear LIES.

Now don’t get me wrong, feelings aren’t bad and we all feel fear, especially fear of judgement and not measuring up. And it’s okay to feel those things, but it’s not okay to live there. One of my personal biggest parenting downfalls is not living in my feelings. I react to a situation and I live there, in the negative, in the lonely, in the fear, in the danger zone. It’s an ongoing battle for me and probably a lot of other parents too if we were all honest.

1 Peter 5:9 says, “Stand firm against him [the devil], and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.” (NLT)

Fear convinces us that we are alone, that we are the only ones fighting the battle or feeling the feelings, which I believe is why we automatically feel judged by other parents. When in reality, I guarantee the parents we feel “judged” by or afraid of, are going through the exact struggle you are.

So what would it look like if we viewed other parents not as “better than us” and instead viewed them as teammates and support systems and equals and other adults who just might need as much encouragement as we do. I think parenting would look a lot less lonely, a lot less stressful, a lot more authentic, and a lot more like Jesus.

So parents, try not to live in fear. It’s okay to feel fear; it’s not okay to live there! Otherwise, we are a self-fulfilling prophecy of depression and anxiety and the comparison game. Try not to live in a world of worry, where you are afraid of being judged, but rather believe that others are just as much of a mess as you are, even if their mess looks different than yours.

Be an encourager and BE ENCOURAGED. And if you just need to observe a parent who is a little more of a mess than you, to help you feel better, come on over to my house! The zoo is always open for viewing ;)

Parenting Fears: Fear of Missing Out

by Desi Ash

Smartphones. While people might complain that they have made us into zombies there is a benefit of smartphones. We are able to stay connected and not miss out on the life not only of our friends and family but we are able to document life as it happens around us.

 The smartphone has taken place of the camera, the video camera, and even the baby book. Our memories are kept on a single device that when said device messes up and our memories are lost it is earth shattering and we will do whatever it takes to get those moments back.

Smartphones and a long list of many others things though can cause us to miss out on life happening around us. We can get sucked into the life of strangers or the unending work emails or the new movies being released on Netflix that we miss the simple moments of seeing kids light up when they see you or being able to teach them something new or even just having an extended conversation, because they truly enjoy talking to you.

When I moved from Ohio to Indiana one of my biggest fears was missing out on the life of three boys that had become my little brothers. I wanted to see them on a regular basis, attend sporting events, and be their big sister. I feared that by missing out I would lose my assigned title as their sister. While our relationship changed, the last four years have proven to me that my fear was irrational. I have had to become more intentional about being involved in their lives and each time I see them, I get the same awesome welcome of hearing my name shouted, feet pounding through the house, and big hugs.

Those same feelings were stirred when as a mom discussed the fear she was having adjusting to her oldest being in high school and how she didn’t want to miss out on anything because she realized soon he will be graduating from high school and starting the next chapter of his life. It can be easy to feel that because you are a working mom or a traveling dad or juggling kids with different sports schedules that you are missing out on the life of your kids. Remember, that feelings, while they are hard, are just feelings. Fear is just a feeling, it’s not reality.

The disciples feared that children were going to be in Jesus’ way. Instead the reality was that Jesus wanted to see the children. He even compared Heaven to them: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)

Instead of the irrational feeling of missing out, think of all the ways you get to be.

·        You get to be the one who comforts your kids when their feelings are hurt.

·        You get to be the one who runs your kids anywhere and everywhere they need to go.

·        You get to be the one who shows them true love and forgiveness.

·        You get to be the who to hold your kids close and love them, no matter how old your kids get

We want to help you be intentional with your kids and not feel the fear that you are missing out. Every year we realize parent resources. These are simple tools that engage the whole family by being together. 

We currently have the Fall Family Bucket List (pdf can be found here: http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/21b341_bb398892d80f4d3ebea221c28d0918d8.pdf) and our next one will be our Advent boxes released the beginning of December.

Parenting Fears: Fear of Failure

by Devin Dummel

I have prayed one prayer every day since the birth of my children: “Lord, please prevent me from screwing them up.”

From the moment I held those boys in my hands, two things I became instantly aware of: their innocence and my propensity for messing things up.  Before those bundles of joy arrived, my mistakes and shortcomings were just that – mine.  Now every choice I make, every word I say and every thought that I hold captive have the ability to shape and mold the next generation of my family.

All this month, our blog posts we will be looking at and discussing parenting fears.  And while at one time or another I have wrestled with all of the fears we will discuss, there is no greater fear of mine than to be a failure as a father.  I am afraid that I will let them down.  I’m afraid I won’t get it right.  I’m afraid that they will have baggage and wounds that one day they will trace all the way back to me and they will hate me for it.

Over the years as I have shared these fears with other parents, and surprisingly I found that I wasn’t the only one who was afraid to fail as a parent.  It seems that most of us at one time or another have been afraid of letting our kids down in the parenting department. 

The truth is we rightfully feel a responsibility – and it’s a God-given responsibility – to as the scriptures put it, “train up a child in the way they should go”.  That kind of responsibility brings with it stress and pressure.   Especially in our less than best moments we tend to feel grossly inadequate for taking care of the emotional, spiritual and physical well-being of a tiny human.

All of those things are real things to feel.  But that’s the thing – they are just feelings.  And as we will discuss more this month – that’s exactly what fear is – it’s just a feeling.  Fear is just a feeling, it’s not reality.

In reality the things we fear the most are some of the least likely things to happen or to be true.  The more we obsess about our fears the more likely we are to develop unhealthy habits and patterns around those fears.  The trick and challenge is for us to view our fears appropriately as feelings but not embrace them as realities. 

The best way I know how to sort our feelings from reality is through spending time in God’s word.  When we allow the scriptures to shape us instead of our fears, that’s when we start to see things clearly.

The ancient Israelite's used to have this saying; it’s written many times in the scriptures, especially early on to remind God’s people that they had nothing to fear.  Some of the greatest leaders of God’s people are quoted in reminding those they were leading and those they cared for this crucial truth.

“Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Let’s keep it real – being a parent is hard.  There likely isn’t a tougher job on the planet than being a parent.  But you do not have to be afraid of failure. 

Part of our problem is that we take all of the responsibility and pressure – but notice what the ancient people understood – that in all their efforts God was with them. He bears the burden with us. They didn’t need to embrace fear – even though they surely felt it – because God was always with them.

So when you start to feel the pressure rise and you feel like you are doing a “less than stellar” job at being mom or dad, remind yourself that you are not alone.  Remember that the burden doesn’t sit squarely on your shoulders.  Turn to God in prayer and thank Him for being with you as you navigate the difficult world of parenting.

The truth is we have been entrusted with a great responsibility to raise the next generation not just to being decent human beings, but to faith in our great God.  The best news is you don’t have to worry that you will screw it up, if you keep turning to Him and remembering that you are partners with God in taking care of and breathing life into your children.

Do not be afraid, for the LORD your God goes with you.

Prime Times: Parent Time

by Whitney Jones

We will be wrapping up the Prime Times in a child’s life with Parent Time. Parent Time is the time you take to fill yourself back up so you can pour into your kids and family.

I am a pretty big fan of my husband. He’s awesome and I enjoy my one-on-one time with him. Recently we went on a date just the two of us and before dinner we walked hand in hand along the canal and just got to be us. 

The “us” that fell in love years ago. 

The “us” that used to be spontaneous. I mean I even almost got a tattoo that evening! Now that’s living life on the edge if you’re a parent! 

Now some of you might be thinking “Wow you are really boring!” but for us this one-on-one time is crucial for our marriage. We want to strive to be the best parents for our kids and for us that means putting our marriage before our kids and taking time for us. A healthy marriage occurs when we submit to God first and then to one another.

We always try to create opportunities where we don’t talk about our kids the whole evening and the upcoming week’s schedule but we talk about each other and our hopes and dreams. We get to laugh together and just be Ryan and Whitney. This helps us maintain a great friendship at the base of our relationship.

God didn’t create marriage to bring us down.  He told us that two are better than one in Genesis therefore, marriage is supposed to make us better.

Marriage is a gift! A gift that should enhance our lives, not suck the very life right out of us.

You see most days, we are up early getting kids ready for the day. Then out the door for work all day to rush home to eat dinner together. Then we kiss each other goodbye because one of us has to run one child to practice while the other parent has to go to a meeting. Every night is full of activities we love but pull us away from each other. Days are busy when you have a family. Weeks are busy. Months are busy.

I encourage you to take time each and every night to talk to each other…not about business, but about your day, your lives, and your dreams.  Then, I urge you to pray together before you go to bed each night.  You will be amazed at the life that God will infuse into your marriage.

 Now some of you might be in a season where you don’t have a spouse to spend one-on-one time with. You can still make sure you are filling your cup up by taking time for yourself. Maybe for you it’s going to your local coffee shop to read a book of your choice. Or maybe you need some gym time with a friend to relieve stress. 

Maybe attending a Bible study is what you need to recharge you spiritually. Whatever it is you decide, make sure it’s for you to recharge so you to be the best parent you can be.

"So many people were coming and going Jesus said to them `Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'"  Mark 6:31 (NIV)

To love others you have to keep your emotional tank full because when it gets low, it's going to make a difference in your relationships. Doing God’s work is important, but Jesus recognizes that to do God’s work effectively we need periodic rest and renewal.

In order to be the best parents we can be, we have to make sure that we make time for ourselves, even if it’s just an hour or two. We are our kids role models, the ones they look up to each day for guidance and advice. If we are exhausted, cranky and beaten down, then what are we teaching our children?

I hope you will take time for you, whether it’s one-on-one time with your spouse or time just by yourself. I hope it’s a time that you are able to recharge yourself and remember who you are so you can be the best parent to your kids. 

Prime Times: Bed Time

By Leah Dummel

My mom tells stories about how when my brother and I were little and she was working full time, along with my dad, trying to raise a family, that she would fall asleep during bedtime books. She would get my brother and I all scrubbed up and teeth brushed and fresh pajamas on and nestled into bed and begin our bedtime stories. She says she would wake up in our beds with my brother and I pleading, “wake up mommy, and please finish the story”!

Parents, RAISE YOUR HAND if you’ve been there!!!!! I know I have! Bedtime can be so absolutely draining. You’ve successfully spent a day working (outside or inside the home), fed your family, kept them all alive, done all the homework and nighttime chores, fed them, bathed them, and tucked them sweetly into their beds.  Mission accomplished – right?

I think sometimes as parents we just want it to end there. If we are all honest sometimes we are a little too eager for the bedtime routine to be over because it means we are FREE! I can remember being very pregnant with our second child and trying to navigate our oldest son’s bedtime. He was around 2 years old and needed all the things…every night.

He wanted all the stories and all the kisses and all the songs and all the snuggles. It would sometimes take hours. I have very vivid memories of waking up to my husband trying to pick me up off of the floor beside the bed where I had fallen asleep while completing bedtime.

It can be a lot.

It can be easy to rush through and miss out on.

But if we are able to push through the exhaustion just a little bit longer, there is so much Jesus to be shared and experienced during bedtime!

Our bedtime routine with our boys is pretty simple and probably pretty generic. Baths, brushing teeth, fresh pajamas, bedtime book, prayers, songs, and snuggles. While all those things in themselves are wonderful, I have been finding that it’s in those in-between moments where the true beauty lies.

We talk about our days. We sneak in extra kisses. We giggle (a lot) at daddy and his antics. We talk about hard things, and how to work through them. The kids ask big questions. They ask to pray…over and over and over. Sometimes we giggle through their prayers because they are so silly (example: “dear God, happy thank you for my toys”) but sometimes we shed tears during their prayers because they are so genuine (example: “dear God, thank you for my family and my brother and for Jesus and I love them all so much”).

Something about the bedtime routine seems to open and soften children’s hearts. You are there with them, and they there with you, totally concentrated on one another without distraction.

Even older children tend to be more vulnerable with their parents at bedtime. A friend of mine says that even though her relationship with her high school aged son has changed with him growing up, that he still asks her to come tuck him in at night. I read somewhere that when you are trying to create a peaceful home, something to remember is “let them remember joy and let them anticipate joy”. This reminds us that when our children are falling gently into the slumbers of sleep that they go with thoughts of joy and love and safety that surrounds them in their home.

You know, my husband and I joke about how I am a very “deep feeler”. He says that I carry around the “weight of empathy”. Sometimes this is a gift and sometimes it’s a curse. Something I feel very deeply and very strongly about it tangibly loving our children like Jesus loves us; and that in doing so when they’re young, will make a huge impact on the way they view God and His love for them when they are older.

So when I think about these “Prime Times” we have been talking about I keep coming back to 2nd Corinthians 4:18 … “for the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

So while the bedtime tantrums and the asking for another drink of water 100 times and the silly little prayers and the “5 more minutes of snuggles please” oftentimes feel daunting and we just want to be finished parenting for the day and collapse in sweet freedom into our couch, these moments will soon be gone. They will be over before we can even imagine. Just one blink and they will begin to need us less and less.

But he way we react to these moments, the way we don’t rush them through snuggles and prayers, the eye contact we make when they are breaking down their day for us, the authentic answers we give to their hard bedtime questions about life (because they hardest questions always come out right before bed don’t they?), the patience we practice and the grace we give them…the things we can’t see or notice or even realize we are doing, THOSE are the things that will last forever in the hearts of our children. And those are the things we lose sleep over and pray continuously will lead them straight toward the heart of Jesus as they grow up. 

Prime Times: Hang Time

by Desi Ash

I recently watched the movie “I am Sam” again on Netflix. This movie is about a single father, Sam, who has the mental capacity of a seven year old and his daughter Lucy. The movie does a great job of making the viewer fall in love with this father daughter relationship. I feel this movie shows us the importance of families hanging out together.  In a heart breaking scene Lucy, age seven, is reading her assigned reading book and decides to stumble over a word she knows. Sam and Lucy end up arguing over the word and Lucy eventually tells her dad “I don’t wanna read it if you can’t.” Sam responds saying “No, because it makes me happy! It makes me happy hearing you read.” Throughout the movie we see that Sam truly loves his daughter and question if love is all that is needed to raise kids.

Many times throughout the movie it is when Sam and Lucy are just hanging out that Lucy will ask Sam some deep questions, and the same is true for kids today. It is while we are hanging out that kids feel open to be themselves and ask deep questions.

As we have shared many times, there are only so many weeks left until your kid graduates and becomes an adult. The time you get to spend will them is more valuable than anything because you will never be able to get those moments back.

Jesus is a great example of hanging out with others. He hung out with Zacchaeus over dinner. He spent one on one time with the disciples. He loved spending time with children. 

Philippians 2:1-4 from The Message says:

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Hanging out with your kids is easy when they are younger. Simply running around the house playing tag or pretend or reading books together is hanging out. As kids get older it can be harder to hang out with your kids. Keep trying; find the special hook that is important to your kids. If you kid is really into the NBA than ask what is going on in the NBA, even if you don’t have any interest or care, the fact that you are asking will mean a lot to your kid and will open the door to get them talking.

The movie “I am Sam” reminds viewers that there is something special about the time we get to hang out with our parents, because when it is gone, no one can replace it. Our kids might not always ask for us to hang out with them, but remember it is important for all kids to have time to hang out with their parents.