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This blog will allow students that participated in the relationship improvement class to review and expand upon the things they learned during classroom instruction. I also extend the invitation to anyone who is interested in improving his or her interpersonal relationships to peruse the materials available here. I hope that you will be edified by what you find. As you can see, however, the blog is (and hopefully will always be) a work in progress. I humbly ask for your patience and extend to you the promise that it will become more and more useful to you as time goes on. I also want site visitors to understand that I am solely responsible for the content of this blog and that statements, artwork, or other material found herein should not be construed to represent the feelings, beliefs, etc. of any other person or organization, including any of my employers or the church I attend. Again, I am solely responsible for this blog's content, except in those instances when I have used quotations, videos, and so forth created by other individuals, in which case I have done my best to provide accurate source documentation. If you have any comments or suggested improvements, feel free to email me at InsideOutChange@gmail.com. As time goes by, please continue to check back; I'll do my best to make this blog the best it can be!

Friday, November 21, 2008

#13: Children See, Children Do

In the seventh session of the relationship improvement class, we talk about ways to become an "influential parent." By "influential" we mean, of course, that it is our goal to influence our children in a positive way. But the truth remainsif you are a parent, you influence your children. Whether or not that influence is positive depends on you.

Above all, you cannot expect more of your children than you expect from yourself. If you are an addict, you cannot expect your kids to be sober. If you are cruel, you cannot expect your kids to be kind. If you are rash, you cannot expect your kids to be level-headed. If you are a bigot, you cannot expect your kids to be accepting. If you are vulgar, you cannot expect your kids to be well-mannered. If you are abusive, you cannot expect your kids to be gentle. If you are a victim, you cannot expect your kids to take a stand against their would-be oppressors.

More often than not, our children magnify the things we do, both positive and negative. They are better than us at the things in which we excel, and they struggle more than us with the things that we call our vices. With that in mind, may the influence that we have on our children be positive.

Click on the following link to see a powerful video reminder of the truthfulness of this principle - Children See, Children Do

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