How To Help My Son

My youngest son is not excited about going back to school. I suppose this is common for kids this time of year. Earlier bed times and morning risings, homework, and the like would certainly make the return to school less popular. Still, many kids are a little eager to be back with their friends again. That’s the rub for my son.

My son says he does not have any friends at school. He confides to us that most kids make fun of him or pick on him, and the few kids he calls friends often use bad language that makes him feel uncomfortable. For him, school is a lonely world where he feels isolated and awkward.

Honestly, I don’t get it. Here’s a boy who loves God, prays and reads the Bible on his own every morning, honors his parents, earns good grades, dreams of serving God and country, hugs every member of the family every night before he goes to bed, and will test for his black-belt in Tae Kwon Do within the year? What’s not to love?

People can be cruel, to be sure, but that’s seed for another discussion. How can we help our son now? Here are seven steps we continue to take to that end this school year. We will …

1. … love him unconditionally. He will know he is valuable and cherished. Let that love be the level place where he finds courage, confidence, and competence.

2. … pray for him without ceasing.

3. … pray with him about the problem and for the kids who give him a rough time.

4. … learn God’s Word, will, and ways alongside our son. God knows a thing or two about love and purpose in the face of undeserved rejection.

5. … listen to him and not pass off his hurt as illegitimate or childish. But even in pain we can find great gain.

6. … encourage him to keep the main things the main things and celebrate with him the markers that indicate he is growing and becoming an even more remarkable person.

7. … train him to live respectfully, productively, even joyfully counter to any culture that de-values truth and honor. We will help him be heroic – a winsome and courageous light in the darkness, and a helpful servant-leader to his peers.

Pastor Rob