Lions From Lambs

Human beings need role models, mentors, and teachers in order to excel, and children are no different.

As adults, we have already grown up, so the people to whom we look up can be a bit wild. Celebrities, pro athletes, and fiery politicians enjoy a great deal of attention from adults with whom they resonate. While it’s never healthy to give any human being a place of greater importance and status than ourselves, at least adults do so with a fully developed brain. 

Children naturally look up to adults and, believe it or not, they would rather look up to someone in their lives, such as their daddy, uncle, or even their teacher. The problem is that many (not all) adults have abdicated that duty. Because of this abdication, children are vulnerable.

It’s not always a lack of care or selfishness that makes adults pass the buck when it comes to influencing children. It’s not an easy thing to have a little person look up to you and want to be like you. It is a ton of pressure for a person to take on and there’s no real instruction manual. It is understandable why an adult might feel that he can’t handle the task. Understandable…but not excusable!

We have an evolutionary duty to prepare all children in our lives to grow up, go out and face this world. Without strong, healthy role models, children run the risk of making decisions that will greatly impede their ability to attain success, especially when they hit their teenage years. Difficult though it may be to be a role model, if we care about them, we must step up!

Children will emulate those whom they find to be strong and capable, and that person should be you! There is no better role model for a child than someone in his own family. Sure, it’s a lot of pressure, but that goes with the territory. And there’s no room for doing it half-way. The scary thing is, you have competition for your child’s attention – vicious, ruthless, and relentless competition!

Celebrities, athletes, and social media influencers are an incredibly toxic group of people, and they want your child’s attention – because that increases their influence and income. 

The characters who are famous now – with a few exceptions – are about as low as you can go on the class scale. There is no limit to the depths to which they will sink to get attention. Our children are watching them and, absent any positive influence from us, will believe that is the way to live a successful and worthwhile life. 

Adults must take responsibility for their children and stop worshiping at the altar of celebrities. Sure, it’s fine to cheer for your favorite athlete, but maintain perspective. It’s just a game, and the person you are putting on a pedestal is unbelievably lucky to have the opportunity to play it. That person does nothing for your child, but you do everything!

You should always be the “celebrity” in your child’s life. You get them to school so they can receive an education, you take care of them when they are sick, you put food in their bellies and a roof over their heads. They are children, so they don’t always realize it on their own. It is your job to make them understand this by raising them with virtue and values. 

Teach a child integrity, discipline, and responsibility, and you will have set her up to go out into this big, bad world and dominate! It is not easy, but you can do it. You must do it because, if you don’t…someone else will!