Kid Confident

You have to be a pretty confident kid to rock the star glasses.  You have to be an even more confident kid to rock the heart glasses. Um, well, maybe the confident one is the grown-up.

The one who is rockin' both the goofy, wide-open mouth and over-the-top spiral perm...yipes!

Building confidence in our kids is tough, and it's most certainly even harder in a world that is completely self-absorbed and insecure.  And I should interject here that I'm not merely writing of tots, as there are enough of us adults struggling with the same issue.

I've found that most concerned parents wrestle greatly with this question, "How do I build confidence in my poor, insecure kid without turning them into an arrogant fool?" Ah, Mr. Balance!  Why are you so elusive, and what must we do to find you?!

There are some pretty big nonnegotiable items in most of our parenting toolboxes:

• We all love our kids more than anybody else loves our kids.
• We all think our kids are amazing.
• We all die a little when our kids face heartbreak...of any kind.
• We all want others to enjoy our kids as much as we do.

Okay.  I can picture a few of you right now laughing and saying, "Enjoy?  Not really enjoying the little treasure right now.  Can't imagine anyone else enjoying 'em!"  So, maybe instead of the word "enjoy" I should use a phrase like, "We want to see the awesome God-given potential in our kids and hopefully, one, fine and glorious day...others will see that, too."

One of the challenges I faced...being a tad, tiny, miniscule bit older than some of my parent-readers...is that I was raised in a time of "confidence = pride."  And a human's confidence in self alone is pride.  And not the good kind.

On the other hand, God-confidence is amazing.  I fortunately had parents who were fans of saying, "Pride goeth before a fall..." AND "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me."

There he is!! Mr. Balance!!

I'm sure you're not having epiphanies left and right out there.  I haven't felt the earth move one, single time as I've typed this.

I just encourage you today to remember that while we can do nothing of outrageously incredible eternal value on our own...through Christ...look out!

Remind yourself first.  Look in the mirror and do what I used to do when my boys were little.  "Hey, girl.  Lookin' a little rough this morning.  Maybe no more cookies after midnight.  But, you know what?  Hear that?  That's some kids.  And they're yours.  And God thought with His help, you could do a pretty bang-up job of loving 'em and raising 'em.  So, let's wash face and get to it! Before they burn the house down!"

Once I remembered who I wasn't and was in Christ, I could go remind my guys who they weren't and were in Christ.

We're all still growing here in the Land of Oz, but the growth is so much easier when we remember that the best way to a confident kid, or human of any kind, is having confidence in the One Who was - and is - confident He is the help and hope of all.
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