Sticking to Our Standards

Do you ever feel like you are under pressure by other parents to raise your children by their standards? We have more strict standards than some, and sometimes we feel that if we don't allow our children to do all the things everyone else is allowed to do that we are just too strict. So we come to the place where we have to consider the influences from others on our children and if they are taking precedent over our influence on them. It is very important to my husband and I that we keep our children's hearts. Sometimes that means reevaluating things. For instance, family time is very important to our family. We do not like our children going and doing things with others more often than they are doing things with our family. Sometimes we feel that others think we aren't being fair, but that's okay. I have to remember that every family has a different way of bringing their children up and each family has to answer to God for the way they choose to raise their children. God's plan for my family isn't going to be exactly the same as other's plan, so it's okay.

I want to encourage you to stick to your standards for your children and not give in to others standards. We have to answer to God for how we raise our children, not how other parents raise their children. So don't feel pressured to give in because someone else thinks you should. Remember, we are pressing in toward the high calling for our families and that means making ourselves aware of, and recognizing peer pressure so that we don't give in to it.

Phillippians 3:13-14

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.