On Memorial Day our family had a cook-out. Our grandson, Ryan, age six, had on a pair of blue jean shorts and no shirt, with his hair cut short for the summer. Did it ever bring back memories for me of growing up. Fifty years ago, our gang could be out playing all day, with no cell phones or pagers. Every parent watched over us, and we knew they all had the right to discipline us, so we behaved. I knew that if a friend's parent gave me a swat on the south side, I had another spanking waiting for me at home. Today that would be child abuse.
Life has become so complicated for our kids. Gadgets have replaced love as the barometer of happiness. The people kids are taught to idolize, both in and out of rehab, are Hollywood stars, not the good guys from our radio programs. None of my gang would have ever looked up to a sports star who was in trouble with the law, no matter how great his ability on the playing field. The clothes our kids want to wear today is not based on what parents can afford, but on what item Madison Avenue advertisers have convinced the crowd is trendy.
Do you know what your kids really want from you this summer? Yes, they may talk about a dream vacation to an overpriced and overcrowded theme park somewhere, but what they really want is you. Buy a watermelon for a couple of dollars, and sit outside with your kids, eating watermelon and just listening to them, as it gets dark. Turn off the cell phone and the PDA's. Block out everything else and give the children around you memories that will last for a lifetime (If you don't carry on about being broke, they will never know it.).
Regardless of what is happening in your marriage right now, please do not allow it to ruin summer for the kids. The memories your kids will have 50 years from now are waiting in your heart, not in your wallet. Open it and let them out, for the next generation to catch. Have a blessed summer.
God Bless,
Bob Steinkamp
