3 Back to School Goals for Your Kids

Back-to-school goals

Back- to- school goals are important, but which are most important?

Each year, we have a Back 2 School night for our kids at church. It’s a fun time, and the kids get to choose items for their school year. This year, Dave shared a five-minute devotional, and I’m going to share it with you.

Jesus was a child, and as He grew, there were three things mentioned about Him as a teenager. These should be the school goals we have for our kids as well.

Luke tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.

Wisdom

Wisdom is listed first. A person who has wisdom sees life from God’s perspective. Our kids are not born with this ability (and neither are we). Yet, one of our goals should be to help our kids see life the way God sees life. This makes a person less selfish and more willing to reach out to others. Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. We help our children gain wisdom by not withholding life experiences from them. They learn wisdom by obtaining knowledge and learning to make good judgments. We help them when we model good judgment ourselves and when we encourage them to think through their rationale for making decisions and choices. As parents, one of our back- to- school goals should be to help our kids learn wisdom.

Stature

We grow in size. Our feet need larger shoes; our waistlines expand. The inseam of our kids’ jeans gets longer and longer. Our kids grow. As parents, one of our back- to- school goals is to help our kids grow in stature. This includes good nutrition, plenty of exercise, and sufficient sleep for their age and size. They need our help to achieve these goals. It’s a rare child who will put himself to bed at an appropriate time if his parents don’t give him a deadline.

We help our kids grow by providing what they need to maintain good health, an alert mental state, and physical endurance. That’s our job, not theirs. As parents, we need to help our kids grow in stature.

Favor with God and man

When a person has the favor of God and the favor of man, he is blessed. Achieving this mark should be another of our back-to- school goals for our kids.

We encourage them to find favor with God by helping them have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Through daily conversations, (hopefully) family devotions, and time spent alone with God, our kids will grow in their knowledge and understanding of Christ.

When this happens, their character will develop and flourish and they will obtain favor not only with God, but with man. A child who develops integrity of character at an early age will carry that with him throughout his life. He will become more liked by his classmates and teachers alike.

We will know, and our kids will know, whether or not we are achieving the goal. We will know whether or not they (and we) are growing in favor with God and man.

Let these three back-to-school goals help you this next year as you make decisions about your kids. Will this activity, this event, this friendship help your child grow in one or more of these three areas?  If the answer is yes, you’ll know what to do. If it is no, you’ll also know what to do.

Do what is best for your kids. Help them achieve these three goals: grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man.