How to raise good children
Laura DeMaria
As long-time readers and listeners know, I became a mom last year. In addition to obsessing over what’s for dinner (everyone has to eat, every night, it never ends) I now obsess over how to raise my child. Not things like what sports he’ll play or how much TV to allow, but over what his soul and character will be. 21st century parents have the unique and awful challenge of raising children such that they are protected from the usual temptations to arrogance, pride, gluttony, and what-have-you, but also to protect them from far more nefarious things: form them virtuously so they know better than to do things like casually take the sort of accidentally life-ending fentanyl type drugs that float around schools now; to be emotionally strong enough that if a classmate successfully attempts suicide, they know not to not do the same thing; to not get addicted to online pornography, or be drafted into a self-mutilating gender cult. If you read the last sentence to someone 50 years ago it would be nonsense. So, these are hyper-challenging times, but we know that God does not leave us without resources, and we simply have to be creative, and dependent on Him in all things.
Well, it occurs to me that the first place to begin is not with our children, but - with ourselves! If I want my son to understand the crucial importance of real relationships, and not a life lived entirely online, oughtn’t I to demonstrate that by having relationships in my own life? If I want him to have a prayer life, shouldn’t I demonstrate that, and indeed, teach him to pray? If I want him to get outside and not spend all his time with a screen, am I modeling an active life myself? If I want him to have hobbies and show an interest in the world around us, do I have hobbies? What can I personally do to model gratitude, respect, and most of all, resiliency? It’s not just about avoiding hypocrisy, but about actively pursuing truth. What is true about life and the human condition? What is true about sin and the things that cause us unhappiness? It seems to me a parent’s job is essentially to teach their children how to exist in this world, how to be human, and to do so joyfully with trust in God. if the child does not see the parent inhabiting that, well, good luck, eh? So, I and all parents have our work cut out for us. But again, God gives us the resources, we need only ask.
One item that is a must for all families in this time is the St. Michael Prayer. Begin to pray it together as a family. We say it as part of our tucking-in bedtime routine, and by the time he can talk, our son will have it memorized. But St. Michael is the antidote for the evil - and it is evil - that exists in our world. But, never fear - “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”