Your Kids Are Turning Into You

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I just read a brief article on the MSN AUTOS page that I wish I hadn't read. But now that I have, I cannot deny the truth of it.

Using data from a recent SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) study, the article essentially suggests that if you see bad driving habits in your kids, there is a high likelihood that they learned them from you. So if you are setting an expectation for your teen drivers that they shouldn't text and drive, you better not be doing it yourself. Augh! That's not what I want to hear.

What I want to hear from research is that parents can set a double standard by giving our kids moral and behavioral standards that we, as parents, have no intention of living up to ourselves. I want the experts to tell me that this is okay and a great way to parent. Where's that data? Because that's what I want.

It doesn't exist? Anywhere? Crud.

I guess that the old adage is true: "more it caught than taught." Your kids are turning into you and my kids are turning into me. This is yet another reason for me to stop messing with my phone as a drive. Beyond that, it's a reminder that my kids are watching me. And your kids are watching you. We can fake a lot of stuff to a lot of people, but we will typically be unsuccessful "faking" anything of substance to our kids.

They watch us too closely. And when it comes to God's desire to make us more like Him, that's a very good thing.