Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15
As you and your child face those cultural “waves” together, you are teaching him how to face them head on, and assess the best way to respond to each “wave,” one thing is vitally important. The truth.
Let’s walk through a scenario in which the truth is vital.
Your child comes home from soccer practice asks you about a violent global incident he heard about from a teammate. You have a few options. You could:
Sugarcoat the situation telling him, “Don’t worry those kind of things will never happen to us.”
Ignore your child’s question, telling him to talk to your spouse about it.
Tell your child the truth about what happened, training him how to handle situations like this in
the future, and honoring him for touching base with you about something hard.
Which one of those responses is actually loving?
Trying to soothe your child’s fears without arming him with knowledge of the truth and preparing him
for probable hurt in the future isn’t loving.
Ignoring your child’s question and passing it off to your spouse isn’t loving to your spouse or your child. It also teaches your child that you can’t be trusted handle hard conversations.
Telling your child the truth about hard situations, training him to handle situations like that in the future, and honoring his honesty is loving.
When we speak the truth in love, it paves the way for us to give that truth to God together in prayer.
You can teach your child how to assess this “wave” head on and not be swept away by it. It helps your child mature to hear the truth from you, builds his trust in you as a source of wisdom, and you can teach him to turn to God with his fears and concerns.
This is the perfect time to stop and pray for all those involved in this situation and pray for protection for your family in the midst of such a sad situation.
What is something your child needs to hear the truth spoken in love about this week?