Column: Developing good routines part of life at Worthington Christian

WORTHINGTON - School has been in session for nearly a month already! As a mother of four with three school-aged children, I am just now finally coming to grips with this harsh reality: summer has ended. The sun-kissed mornings of kids crawling out of bed around 9 a.m. and bicycling in their PJs until noon are long over.  The evening kickball games and bonfires on our farm have come to an abrupt end. They have been replaced with sporting events, homework and bedtime routines. Although the back-to-school season brings mixed feelings in our home, the shiny new backpacks brimming with school supplies always seem to find their way to our doorstep accompanied by a few nervous smiles, of course. And slowly but surely, that 7:15 school bus horn starts to grow on me.
Routine is healthy and brings a sense of structure that helps us organize our thoughts and makes us feel like we have it all together. As Christian parents it is our duty to construct and maintain effective routines for our children. A question we might ask ourselves as we’re rushing in and out the door is “Who is leading whom?”
Either we will train our children to be self-controlled or we will train them to be demanding and self-centered. We can ask a different set of questions to help us see this more clearly. Is the child setting the schedule and demanding things go his own way? Or is the parent, (appointed by God) leading the child, setting the daily routine?
In order to effectively develop self-control in our children, we need to set up good routines and develop a flexible schedule. Taking the time and initiative to train them to comply with routines can be challenging. As a mom, I am good at being in “I’ll just do it myself” mode when it comes to household chores and family obligations. However, the repetition of routines for our children goes a long way toward building their confidence, experience and acceptance of what needs to be done in life. The very patterns that they are familiar with today will become the same patterns that they will naturally adopt for their own, as they get older.
At Worthington Christian School, students are trained in biblical principles and encouraged to incorporate such ideas into their daily routines. Proverbs 22:6 offers wise instruction for school administrators, teachers and parents alike: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” WCS students, staff and parents shared this message at Saturday’s King Turkey Day Parade in Worthington and celebrated their first-place entry. Training up children in the way they should go certainly has its ups and downs, but God’s will for their lives is accomplished through our love as parents. Developing healthy routines and flexible schedules is just one of many ways we can demonstrate that love.