When August comes, I always think about the moms who are sending one or more of their children off to college, perhaps for their first year. I remember the emotion that was involved in that change in our own lives. There were some difficult moments, but we had been duly warned that that day would come, so we had tried, by God’s grace to prepare our own hearts, as well as the hearts of our daughters. We certainly didn’t get it all right, and there were tears and aches in our hearts, but we had the goal of “preparation” as our motive for many years before the day of their departure ever came.

What did we prepare? We tried to prepare our own minds for the day the girls would leave home. We tried to remember through their growing up years that they didn’t belong to us – they were the Lord’s and He had loaned them to us for a time. Therefore, knowing that one day we would be “just the two of us” again, we strived to work at our marriage so we would be best friends and in love with each other, rather than strangers.

We also sought to prepare them for what was to come. We had discussions about subject matters that are sometimes sticky, but needful. I wrote this years ago concerning what parents should be teaching their children while they’re home –

There’s so much to teach our children, and I’m not referring to homeschool. I’m talking about the every day things – the stuff of life that need to be discussed with our children before they leave home.

Continue reading “Essential Life Lessons for Kids” →