Family Virtues
Today, February 16, is “Family Day”, a statutory holiday in Ontario, as well as in Alberta, BC, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan. The government calculated the approximate cost of raising a child from birth to 18 years of age in a typical middle-income family in North America to be $160,140. That doesn’t include the cost of post-secondary education. I have three kids who finished university and I assure you—it affects your bank account. But $160,140 isn’t too bad if you break it down. It works out to $8,897 per year, or $741.39 per month, or $171.09 per week, or $24.44 per day, or $1.02 per hour. The key is not to look at it as a cost, but as an investment. Our investment will hopefully result in great dividends in the lives of our children.
Money aside, what qualities should we be investing in our children? For me, the following are five non-negotiables:
- The first quality to build into our children is godly confidence.
- They feel good about whom God has made them.
- The second quality to build into our children is character.
- Their decisions will honour God and their parents.
- The third quality to build into our children is conviction.
- Their beliefs are rooted in God’s Word. There is a danger in raising kids with character, but no conviction.
- The fourth quality to build into our children is competence.
- Help them learn their God-given gifts, talents, and skills, and give them opportunities to use and improve them.
- The fifth quality to build into our children is compassion.
- Help them see with Christ’s eyes beyond themselves to the needs around them, in their neighbourhood and beyond.
I trust you’ll have a wonderful week with your family.