What are your dreams for your children?  Do they know them?  Are they working hard to reach them – to make you happy?  Is it correct to say that your dreams for them have become their dreams?  Stories and movies are made of business owners who have sacrificed to build a business from nothing.  Their dream is for their child to have a business to run. 

They pay for their child to go to university with a carrera in Business Administration – only to have their child say, “No, I really want to do something else.”  Is it wrong to have dreams and ambitions for our children?

No!

Setting high standards for our children will stretch and challenge them – something each of us need.  We only reach as high as we are challenged.  Our problem as adults is that we have had the chance to see the world.  We know the careers that pay good money and bring status.  We know the destiny our poor choices brought us to.  We want our children to succeed, and we think we know the best way for our children to succeed.  If you have noticed, the last 4 sentences have been centered on “we.”  Have we stopped in our mad rush to give our children the very best, to think and analyze what is best for the giftedness of our children?  Do I trust my children to make a good career choice?  I’m no different from any of you.  When my children tell me – during or after their 3^rd year in secondary school – “I don’t want to go to university!” – what is my response?  Only one of my children has not said that very statement.  My last child has said that since he began secondary school.  I think back on all the jobs I had that required no university education – washing dishes in a restaurant, scrubbing floor, cleaning bathrooms, security guard, construction laborer, gardener … Do I want that for my brilliant, overachieving, good looking children?  What will my friends think?  Oh, that’s a good one!  Again a selfish thought.

Paul Robinson, who lived many years in Uruguay, said something simple but profound, “Don’t worry about doing something great. Be great by doing what you can where God has placed you.  It will pay off after awhile.”  Let’s set high, achievable standards for our children.  They’ll surprise us by their own high desires.  They’ll thank us for our encouragement.  They’ll be happy in their careers.

None of us are perfect as individuals – nor are our marriages perfect.  As we work together to maintain our love and a strong marriage, our homes will be a good environment for growing and happy children.