Some of the best moments of life have come in doing youth group. Conversely, some of my least proud moments have happened in youth ministry too.
One thing that "just comes with the title" is that my kids are sometimes treated poorly by careless words and careless actions of the students I love so much.
A few examples:
- When Megan was one week old, a high school student smacked Megan’s head against a metal door frame accidentally. She wasn’t injured seriously but she did cry for a long, long time.
- A couple years back the guys teased Megan (then 3 years old) until she was left bawling and them laughing.
- Megan and Paul are constantly ridiculed and made fun of "in fun" when they are around "daddy’s friends." Sometimes this doesn’t seem to effect them, other times they simply tell me they don’t want to be around "daddy’s friends" for a while.
- Tonight, Paul got flipped over by a student and his head thumped on the floor. The oblivious student simply walked away not ever really realizing that Paul had been injured.
The point isn’t that middle and high school kids are bad with students. And in no way am I upset. But it speaks to something that I am becoming increasingly aware of... my career choice effects my kids in ways I can’t always control. Everyone knows about the social pressure that "pastor’s kids" feel. That is actually manageable. But there are other unintended consequences (like getting dropped on your head) that I’m just observing and thinking, "How can I both model biblical parenthood and allow kids to potentially accidentally hurt my kids feelings…. or even bodies?"
The simple answer is, "we trust God will watch over our children." At the same time… where does protection come into the equation?
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