Putting Your Children First

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The World and Everything in It, one recent morning, and heard a commentary from Janie B. Cheaney that made me think of you (and our Veritas model). Side note: I love her name. Wouldn’t it be cool if I had married Joe Krishell? Well, maybe not.

To get serious for a moment, Mrs. Cheaney spoke first about the data that is pointing to the ways that our children may suffer more from the indirect effects of COVID than adults have suffered from the actual disease. She cited a New York Times article, in which David Leonhart stated that our children are falling behind in school, struggling with mental health issues, have become increasingly disrespectful in class due to the impact of social isolation, and more. Mr. Leonhart’s conclusion was “Have we accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults?” – to which Mrs. Cheaney replied, “Yeah, but what else is new?”

Mrs. Cheaney next talked about the ways that society has made it even easier for adults to put their needs first over the past 50-60 years:  1) No-fault divorce laws have made it easy to destabilize the home; 2) Roe v. Wade has given some adults the right to put their convenience first; 3) Federal spending and a massive debt, a burden to future generations, has allowed adults to live in the short-term. She does acknowledge that putting ourselves first is human nature, but Mrs. Cheaney went on to say that Jesus blessed the children and told adults to follow their example of trusting dependence. This is not easy, because we all know that kids stretch us as we do the work to shape them.

So here’s why I thought of you, dear Veritas parents: You are bucking this trend. You are going against societal “norms,” and I’m guessing that you may have faced being ridiculed. Maybe you have felt misunderstood by some of your friends or family members. Why? Because you are putting your children first. You are sacrificing something in order to have a Co-teaching parent at home. You realize that being in the game right now is far more important than sitting on the sidelines. Acts 5:29b states, “We must obey God rather than men.” I praise God for your faithfulness and your obedience to His calling.

Thanks be to God,

Michelle

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