The following is a list of things from my childhood that my children will likely not experience unless specifically led.

Telling time on an analogue watch.

Writing in cursive.

Memorizing multiplication tables sans common core.

Shooting things with a BB gun.

Hiking in nature absent supervision.

Playing outside without boundaries or a gps tracker.

The Dewey Decimal system.

Encyclopedias.

Building tree forts with a jar of nails and scrap wood.

Chopping down trees in the wild.

Times change. My kids have infinite information at their fingertips. They can call me from anywhere in the world without a cage enclosed phone that costs a quarter. They can record videos and edit them. They are learning to code computer software. They’ll never have to take a typing class. The list is immense. I’m sure there are aspects of your childhood that are long gone for kids today (I’d love to hear them).

Much can said about what our kids will never experience. Instead of focusing on what they won’t experience, we should ask what they will get to experience that we never had the opportunity to share in. We can lament that they’ll never know “our world” or we can prepare them to be amazing humans in their world and the world to come.

Teach them to create beautiful things for human flourishing so they create a vocation that makes their soul sing.

Teach them to be kind to others regardless of differences so that dialogue can return to civility.

Teach them their worth doesn’t come from the approval of others so they can be free from the endless cycle of popularity by likes, views, or whatever new metric may come.

Teach them to care for the poor, widows, and orphans so their lives are rooted in service to the least of these.

Teach them to hold convictions that matter so that convictions that don’t matter can be sifted like chaff.

Teach them critical thinking skills so they aren’t tossed by the ever changing pulse of culture.

These lessons and qualities (with many others I’m sure) transcend the changes that time will inevitably bring. We can lament a childhood gone missing or raise children in the here and now for the days they will face tomorrow.

#dadlife #raisinghumans