The other day my wife was talking to…let’s just say “another homeschooler.” The conversation revolved around college and the plans she had for her soon-to-graduate child.
My wife summed up the woman’s attitude toward steering her child in the college direction as…well…OBSESSED. She was bound and determined to get this kid into a specific college one way or the other. She was relentlessly pushing her son towards a better SAT score, a sports scholarship, and any other way she could think of to make sure he got into the college of her…I mean “his” choice.
My kids noticed it too and thought she was a little NUTS.
I’m not against college. I’m not against higher learning and institutional universities. BUT I am against putting a round peg into a square hole. Not only does it hurt the peg but it’s also a losing proposition.
This particular kid has abilities, talents, and gifts, and wants to pursue a certain type of ministry, but all his mother can see is a specific COLLEGE and a specific degree (in something more versatile than what he wants to do)!!!!! She’s so bent on that destination that she’s pushing him into it, will most likely cause him to rack up debt (unless he gets that sport scholarship), and then doom him to a life of doing something he doesn’t even want to do.
If this mom sounds like you, can I urge you to…RELAX? It’s not your job to get your kid into college, trade school, or the work place. Your job is to fan the flames of passion, give them the tools to accomplish what they are made for, and allow them to grow up by failing or floundering.
The big LIE that has been perpetuated by politicians, leaders, and homeschoolers is that everyone needs to go to college and have a marketable degree. That, my fellow parent, is a bunch of malarky. Not every kid needs to go to college in the same way that not every kid needs to speak Russian.
What are we doing here…squeezing our children into boxes? Some kids are made to fit the box…but some are not. Moms, let your child be what God wants him/her to be. Quit thinking it will look bad on YOU and quit letting fear of their future drive you to the point of obsession. Think only of what God would have for your child and then stand back and cheer him on. Don’t tell him why he shouldn’t…but why he should.
I’m telling you, that is FREEDOM and the recipe for joy and success. But it starts with you relaxing and leaving the results up to God.
Only the truth!