Why Old Skool beats New School.

Guest Post by Mike Ziadeh, husband, father of three and Youth Pastor @ Spring Lake Methodist Church Brooksville, FL

The most important part about writing is to create a clever title, something that wins in the battle of our ever restless attention span. Old school vs. New School, this could be describing any assortment of styles or competitions, but in this case I want to talk about parenting. Parenting styles have been the subject of scrutiny, study, insult, injury , and the source of blame for many generations, but none more so then our current age. This is a sign of the times. We are more introspective, more analytical, and in this highly therapeutic age, we are looking for a finger to point, and a explanation of our current behaviors. All of this leaves us, as parents, awkward, nervous, and unsure of our parenting ability. Many of us feel trapped. How do we do something that we have never seen modeled? (many men trying to be fathers) or How do we take on the task of parenting when many of us are trying to sort out the hurt that we may have experienced from our own parents?


We can spend endless hours and dollars on the latest trends, books, programs, apps etc.. but what it comes down to is having a God given assurance that if He entrusted us to be worthy of the blessing of children, then He is going to walk with us through this journey, and allow the experience to be one which is to His glory, and our sanctification. Let's face it, we all lash out, say things in anger, react, regret, and then wonder how we just mirrored our own parents, But God's grace see's us through every step of the process. The same way He allows for His grace to transform/renew our minds, He has given us children who will shape and mold us to His glory as well.

The kicker is that as we break bad patterns/behavior/abuses that we experienced, we are literally standing in the gap for our kids, and allowing our children the blessing of living in a Godly home. As a parent it is important to have the "buck stops here" mentality in regard to curses, abuse, and in general a lack of godliness. Despite our own upbringing, we are responsible for the gift God has given us, and we have the blessing to change the world through the Godly upbringing our of kids. When we examine our past subjectively, pick out the good, forgive the past, allow the Holy Spirit to work his gift of forgiveness in our lives, only then are we able to parent from a clean slate. God doesn't expect for us to be perfect, our kids do not either. I say all of this to say, forget about the trends, and fad's. Hold fast to the bible, raise your kids in a manner that promotes Jesus as #1, loving and serving one another as a way of life, possessions as something to bless, and use to the furthering of Gods kingdom, and that when we mess up, we should be quick to ask forgiveness. Tell your kids that just like they are under your authority, you are under God's authority. So all that we teach our children, God expects from mommy's and daddy's as well.