Buckle your seat belts

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

Every day is something new with two boys who are full of life and think they are invisible. I can't understand their tendency to risk life, limb, and reputation for no good reason.

All we can do is love them unconditionally, but set strict consistent boundaries regarding behavior - make sure those boundaries are consistently enforced. Communicate with them often not only about right/wrong and boundaries, but also about good character and decency. Have dinner together and find out what is going on in their lives. Show an interest in them and their lives (not just show - be interested). Teach them the social skills to carry on a balanced conversation. Encourage them to ask and care about other people.

With all of these plans - there are wrecks now and again. We pick up the pieces, go through a healing process and begin again. A wreck is an opportunity to start fresh and get back on the right road.

God our Father, you see your children growing up in an
unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways
give more life than the ways of the world, and that following
you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to
take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance
for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you,
and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.