I am very blessed that most of my family is saved. But there is a family member one of my siblings that I dont feel is being very honest or realistic with thier children/youth about REAL life, and I fear when my nieces and nephews are faced with reality they are going to have a very hard time.
That family has basically implied if there kids love Jesus and get good grades in school and follow God and obey thier parents all will go well with thier life and they will succeed, these kids live in a contained enviromnet where everyone is nice to them in school all their activitys are christian and some of these kids are youth and dont even have a part time job to earn there own monies and this concerns me as thier Aunt. Just because there parents are upper middle class does not mean my nephews and neices will be.
What can I do as thier Aunt to encourage these kids who I love when things do get hard for them? How can I be there for them?
2006-12-22 05:03:05 · 5 answers · asked by encourager4God 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Unfortunately, this seems to be all too common... (My best friend's father is a Baptist preacher, and when he told his parents he was gay, they were remarkably fine with it...by simply pretending it didn't exist.)
The "Christian bubble", as I've heard it termed, can indeed be very harmful to those who grow up in it--and I was there myself once, and got the nasty shock of reality later. You know...here's an idea that will most likely be perfectly acceptable to the parents, and will allow you to not only show the kids how hard life can be, but will give you time to explain to them in a more acceptable way that life isn't alway predictable, no matter what you believe: Get them for a day and go volunteer at a soup kitchen. It's a sobering experience to see the hard side of life, and especially when you realize that many people who are homeless had good jobs and a "normal" life before some event occurred that put them on the street. Explain to them that it only takes a small thing happening somewhere--the company decides to downsize, an accident happens and your house is in flames--for things to go terribly wrong. At the very least, it will give them an appreciation for helping those who really need it--and the parents will have a hard time objecting to charity work. (At least the first time. A person's first experience doing this sort of thing often has a major impact on them, especially with kids, and some parents may not necessarily like the changes brought about, when the kids want to buy food for the shelter instead of getting a bigger TV...)
2006-12-22 05:17:45 · answer #1 · answered by angk 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
How old are these kids? If they are still young, why ruin it for them. I wish I had it like that. I would have loved going to a school where no one was mean, where I didn't have to worry about fights or the teachers threatening me. One teacher landed me in therepy when I was still in 5th grade after a year of harrassment.
Those kids are lucky. What do you suggest? Shove them in a war zone and say, "Here is the real world?" Stand by them when they meet people who carry hate in their hearts. Why do you want to hurt them? IF they are well behaved and smart, who cares! If they are old enough, they probably already know about he real world, but your question made me think they were probably still little kids. Let them be kids for now.
2006-12-22 13:10:06 · answer #2 · answered by sister steph 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you have a lot of resentment and bitterness in you.
They are still kids. Shouldn't you be glad and thankful that they have what they have now and not foresee their failure in the future.
I didn't start working until after college, it didn't make me a bad person. You just need to teach them how to appreciate what they have and to realize that they are fortunate and that what they have now, doesn't bring an entire happiness in life that they should search for them. You could teach these in 'words' during conversations over a cup of coffee or tea.
2006-12-22 13:18:03 · answer #3 · answered by coco_loco 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Are you saying that, although you are a Christian, you honestly know deep down inside that praying to Jesus and God IS WORTHLESS and will not help these children when REALITY hits them???
I commend you for your honesty!!
AS for how to combat that, I cannot give any advice other than to discourage them away from silly beleifs of eternal salvation....
2006-12-22 13:09:41 · answer #4 · answered by YDoncha_Blowme 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Whatever you do, don't tell them to look to god for help.
I was told that when my father committed suicide when I was a child, and it turned me into an atheist.
2006-12-22 13:06:31 · answer #5 · answered by Michael 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋