Preventing Mistakes in the Next Generation
Can we prevent our kids from making the same mistakes we did? I ask this because a couple of friends and I were chatting about this recently. Is this even a possibility?
This is always a goal for adults right? After all, as a parent or an adult we can all say I don’t’ want to make the same mistakes my parents made. But can we even remember ever saying this to ourselves as a child?
I remember hearing my parents tell me they didn’t want me to make those mistakes, but I never really thought I would. After all, I was a teenager, my life was just beginning, my future held whatever I wanted it to hold. My parents were…. Parents…. What did they know? … They were the rule makers and enforcers… just like all the other adults and teachers in my life. Making their same mistakes? Not me, I’m not them!
Hmmm… Wow! As I think back I don’t think I ever thought I’d even make a mistake. And the more my parents mentioned it, the more I just wanted to do my own thing and just live my life and they could just step aside. I was going to grow up, get a job that I love and that pays real money, find a husband, have a family, and live happily until I die.
Sounds good, right? Well, at 38, I still hadn’t reached the have a family part yet, but I knew something else in life was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was having the time of my life (most of the time). I loved my husband, I lived in an awesome town, I had a dream job, I had fun friends, what the heck could be wrong? Why did I feel like I was missing something? Then I found it. God's will for my life! Wait! Don’t stop reading yet! No no, I didn’t hear voices. It didn’t come to me in a dream or vision. It wasn’t any type of event or supernatural happening.
Through a friend, I met and listened to a speaker who taught a lot about what Jesus preached when he was alive. Through listening and studying I learned that everyone has a purpose in their life. God put it there before we were born and this knowledge is what was missing in my life. If this was what I was missing since grade school, then this is what is missing in a lot of other person’s lives. We have a purpose and it involves the very things we love and are good at doing. It's those gifts and talents, the strengths in your life that you could do all the time.
So when we are teaching kids. We have to remember it is a fresh new world to them. It is their life. They don’t want to hear we’ve been there and done that. We have to empower them to find their purpose, encourage them to continue practicing their gifts and talents until they are the best of the best and to teach and model to them how to prepare by writing a plan for their future, where they want to go, what they want to do and what it will look like and who they can help along the way. And finally, take steps to execute that plan. No one becomes a success overnight, so each and every step along the way whether big or small will cause the greatest chain of events that anyone can imagine!
We have to help them focus their life on their future. Mistakes will happen, but when the end is in sight and a plan has begun, then maybe the unnecessary mistakes that we made at their age, will not even tempt the next generation.
To learn more about purpose and vision I highly recommend any of the books listed on my resources page by Dr Munroe, click here to see the list.
If reading is not your thing check out The School of Influence for Agents of Change. This online video based mentorship program will teach you how to find your purpose and vision for your life and then you can demonstrate it and live a fulfilled life as a role model for your children, grandchildren, and other kids in your life. See more at TristaSue.com.
There is also a mentorship program by The School of Influence: Next Generation. The magazine E.P.I.C. will be published by the end of February 2016. This is written for 10 - 18 year olds for them to find their identity, purpose and vision for their lives. Click here for more information.
