When I was young, our father would give us his standards/rules of the expectations for living in His house.  Well, some people would get mad and say that he should not have reminded us that it was His house but Dad was fair about things.  We could stay there as long as we abided by the standards/rules.  When we felt that we could/would not abide by those standards/rules, we needed to find another residence.  Now that I am a parent of an adult, I FULLY UNDERSTAND why he and our mother set the standards/rules that they did.

As a parent, those of us who are Christians, are obligated to raise our children in the ways directed by the scriptures with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible CLEARLY states the difference between right choices and their benefits and wrong choices and their consequences. Unfortunately, when our children reach a certain age, they  decide that they know better than their parents what is best for them even though the parents  have already walked where they have yet to walk.  I AM SO THERE!!

In previous Funkadelic Friday blogs, I have written about my son. The good; the bad; the ugly. Through it all, I love my son and try to do my level best to raise him as God instructs in His word. I do not think that my standards/rules are unreasonable.

1.In by 1:00 a.m. and let me know if you are running late out of respect for me and the standards/rules (don’t make it a habit).

2.  No smoking legal or illegal substances and DEFINITELY not in my house or on the premises.

3. On Sunday, if work permits it, you are going to your membership church.

4.  No drinking alcoholic beverages in the house or on the premises.

5.  You will either work and/or be in school.

Unreasonable?  I don’t think so.  Did I break some of these standards/rules when I was growing up?  Yes.  Did I break them more than once.  NO!  I knew that I was not ready to move out on my own and none of them were hard to comply with.  I did not have to pay ANY rent or expenses toward the house.  All that my father requested was that I give something to our mother since she was a hard working stay at home mom.

No, I don’t require rent but assistance with two bills  on a monthly basis helps the entire household.  Unfortunately, compliance is no longer the order of the day.  As a parent, I work with my son in stages of preparedness.  We are now in the last phase of real world preparedness.  It is clear that the standards/rules that I have are no longer respected so it is time to allow my son, who I love with EVERY fiber of my being, to put into practice what I have tried to teach him. I have given him the tools.  Go forward and build.   He can always come home but remember, those standards/rules remain.  They kept me and my eight siblings out of jail growing up and they have kept my son up to this point in his life.

Remember to keep your children in prayer.  Give them the tools to build their future.  Be a listening ear when they need it.  Give advice only when they ask for it.  Oh, yeah, and have a Fabulous Funkadelic Friday.

~~~Malinda Gwyn~~~