The following bit of wisdom is brought to you by the lovely and talented Mrs. Peterson whose words are in bold.
Recently I heard one of my children make a statement about boyfriends & girlfriends that made my ears hot and my gut twisted. I disagreed with the statement, but she adamantly defended it.
I asked, “Where did you hear that?” She gave the name of someone from whom I do not want my children to learn when it comes to those matters.
I was mad. In my mind I was already putting together my diatribe.
When the dinner table was cleared I asked the lovely and talented Mrs. Peterson how she would deal with this. She said, “Honey, you’ve got to train your kids. You can’t always attack others when they say silly things. You’ve got to teach your kids to discern foolish from wise counsel.”
As is normally the case, Mrs. Peterson is right.
I suppose I could follow my six daughters around for the rest of their lives pounding on people who say stupid things to them… or I could save some time and teach them to be wise.
So two good things have happened as a result of this conversation:
- I avoided saying something mean for which I’d have to undoubtedly apologize.
- I was reminded of my responsibility as a teacher in our home.
Thanks Mrs. Peterson.
paulpetersonlive.com 
I have run into the same troubles. You spend all your time teaching your kids what you want them to know, how to act, etc, and then they go off into the world. I never once thought about the fact that not every parent believes the same as I do, or holds to the same standard. It was quite a shock.
The school bus has a radio, so my kids know songs that I never knew about. When they asked me why I don’t like a certain popular singer, I replied that while I have never met her personally, so I have never asked her if she loves Jesus, she certainly ACTS like she doesn’t. My kids were mortified that such a thing could be possible, not loving Jesus, and that was the end of the discussion. They didn’t want anything to do with that music again. I was so thankful that the LORD had taught me to teach them in this matter.
The difference between wise & foolish counsel. Good stuff, that.