Let Them Be Learners
“Let them be little.” I’ve heard that beautiful statement time and time again.
It seems we’ve grasped a sweet spot for our little people in this growing up adventure. We’ve collectively made an effort to reclaim the simple things of childhood and stop asking 6 year olds to hold a conversation with the maturity of an 17 year old. We’ve worked hard to create boundaries around these precious hearts, and I love it. Let them be little. All day long.
Today I thought about our teenagers and the pressures they face. They are learning to adult in this practice zone of teenage years. Learning to drive. Learning high level coursework at school. Learning how to have a job (or even jobs in my son’s case). Learning to volunteer. Trying to decipher what they want to be when they grow up. So much more.
Our expectations of them, I’m afraid, sometimes speak to them having perfected adulthood in lieu of being in a practice zone for life on their own one day.
What if we create safe spaces to make mistakes?
What if we create zones that call them to the next level, but undergird that calling with love?
What if we “let them be learners” and speak life over them when they mess up?
I’ve always told my boys when they make a mistake I want them to run to Jesus and me. That means I have a responsibility to make that running to me a safe space to land.
Our kids will mess up. They will forget things. They may make less than desirable decisions as they learn. They will try and fail. It’s called life.
What we speak over them, how we receive them, and the encouragement and tools we provide them with determine if those mistakes become a loop of failures, though, or the breeding ground for successful living.
They need us to reassure them that mistakes aren’t fatal or final. They need us to speak beyond the moment before us and say, “I’m here with you and I am so for you.” We need to shock them by being the place in their world where perfection is not the goal, but grace-filled learning is.
Let them be learners.
Let them be learners.
Let them safely be learners.
It’s their whole job in this season.
Copyright © 2019 by Christie Aitken.
All rights reserved.
www.ChristieAitken.net
MINISTRY LOVE: www.SingleMomCentral.net
WELLNESS JOY: www.MyOilGirl.com
It seems we’ve grasped a sweet spot for our little people in this growing up adventure. We’ve collectively made an effort to reclaim the simple things of childhood and stop asking 6 year olds to hold a conversation with the maturity of an 17 year old. We’ve worked hard to create boundaries around these precious hearts, and I love it. Let them be little. All day long.
Today I thought about our teenagers and the pressures they face. They are learning to adult in this practice zone of teenage years. Learning to drive. Learning high level coursework at school. Learning how to have a job (or even jobs in my son’s case). Learning to volunteer. Trying to decipher what they want to be when they grow up. So much more.
Our expectations of them, I’m afraid, sometimes speak to them having perfected adulthood in lieu of being in a practice zone for life on their own one day.
What if we create safe spaces to make mistakes?
What if we create zones that call them to the next level, but undergird that calling with love?
What if we “let them be learners” and speak life over them when they mess up?
I’ve always told my boys when they make a mistake I want them to run to Jesus and me. That means I have a responsibility to make that running to me a safe space to land.
Our kids will mess up. They will forget things. They may make less than desirable decisions as they learn. They will try and fail. It’s called life.
What we speak over them, how we receive them, and the encouragement and tools we provide them with determine if those mistakes become a loop of failures, though, or the breeding ground for successful living.
They need us to reassure them that mistakes aren’t fatal or final. They need us to speak beyond the moment before us and say, “I’m here with you and I am so for you.” We need to shock them by being the place in their world where perfection is not the goal, but grace-filled learning is.
Let them be learners.
Let them be learners.
Let them safely be learners.
It’s their whole job in this season.
Copyright © 2019 by Christie Aitken.
All rights reserved.
www.ChristieAitken.net
MINISTRY LOVE: www.SingleMomCentral.net
WELLNESS JOY: www.MyOilGirl.com
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