I originally wrote this article when my son was 7, he is 13 now. But the importance of these truths is just as important now as then.
My youngest son and I just spent a week together conducting our final VBS of the summer. We had a blast, and while we were away, I asked him a list of questions to get to know him better, as well as to see how well I really know him. While I thought I’d ace this, some of his answers actually surprised me.
If you have children, you probably know them pretty well too… or at least you think you do.
Sometimes we’re convinced that we know our own kids better than anyone else, but if we really stop to evaluate ourselves, we might just find out that we don’t know them quite as well as we think, or as we should.
One of our primary goals as parents is not just to raise our children, but to know them.
It’s easy to get so busy taking care of our children, that we can lose track of many of the important details of their lives.
God gave them to us to guide through life, and this requires that we study them, learn them, and know them to the best of our ability. Their wants, desires, needs, and special quirks should be things that we both know and understand better than anyone else.
Learning to know our children can be a life-long process, but a very worthy one. So here is a list of basic questions/statements for you to try and answer to see how well you know your child. Pick up a pen, and start filling in answers: (printable pdf available by clicking on the image)
After filling out your answers to all of the above questions, ask your child their responses to the same questions, then compare and discuss your answers together.
My son got quite a kick out of seeing how many answers I got right (and how many I got wrong). He thought is was super fun to see how well dad knows him. And we had some great discussion as well. I’m sure your kids will love it too.
Don’t be surprised if you get stumped along the way. Just have fun. And remember, the goal is simply to get to know your child better. And believe me, you will.
