My Manning Message
Yay for Manning! I'm not going to lie, I was more interested in Lady Gaga, loved her eye-shadow by the way, and the half-time show than the Super Bowl game. But this morning I read a post about Peyton Manning and saw this quote: "Like my dad, I make it a point when I speak to groups to talk about priorities, and when it's schoolkids, I rank those priorities as: faith, family, and education, and then football". Peyton Manning
Did you read the quote too quick and miss the first three words, "Like my dad..."? The investment his dad, Archie Manning, made in the life of his son is the account from which Peyton draws from as an adult! He is like his dad.
Parenting is not a gamble, it is more like a solid investment from which the returns can be far-reaching. Your child starts off life with a zero character balance. Perhaps even a deficit as we have to overcome the selfish instincts and tendencies. But the brief time they pass through your life can make the greatest impact on who they will be as an adult! The clock is ticking so let's get started.
Bring It Home
Let very little go when it comes to the area of disrespect. I know it's not as black and white as disobedience. It's subtle, not making eye-contact, the stomping of the feet, not coming when you call the first time. And it can get even murkier when your child throws fits or shows aggression towards another child. I know it's hard, but you have to deposit character! Don't assume your child came out of the womb with the character handbook. You will need to teach eye-contact so that when you say, look at me, your child knows exactly what you mean. Role-play sharing, honesty, getting and staying in bed. Model what a thorough job of cleaning up looks like.
The ripple effect of parenting is like a rock thrown in the pond. And the ripple effect can be either positive or negative. If you ignore your two year old's disrespect and stomping of the feet, your child may go on to bully a child on the playground, talk back to a teacher, quit a job when confronted by authority, walk away from marital conflict and on and on. The negative character or behavior can start and stop with you.
The ripple effect of good parenting can be seen in Peyton Manning, "Dad says it can take twenty years to make a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it. I want my reputation to be able to make it through whatever five minute crises I run into."
