“Dad, here’s a gift for you… Well, it’s actually a gift for you to give back to me and your future grandkids….”
About eight months ago, our oldest son gave me a book called, Dad, Tell Me Your Story.
It was filled with questions to answer about my family, life, beliefs, and thoughts… and blank pages for me to fill in all the answers for my son to read and share with my grandkids someday (a really cool concept btw).
*Sidenote*… Best. News. Ever. We found out over Christmas that we’re becoming grandparents this year!
I’ll be honest, I was a bit intimidated by the book at first. Many of the questions challenged me and I even struggled to properly answer some of them.
One question that stood out to me was this:
If you could relive one decade of your life, which would it be?
How would you answer that question?
For me, the answer came easy. I would relieve my 20’s.
- Charity and I were married in our 20s.
- We started life, ministry, and parenting together almost simultaneously within just a few years.
- We had 3 of our 4 children in our 20s.
- We had lots of young energy and drive in our 20s.
- It was an amazing, stressful, memorable, fun-filled, sometimes overwhelming decade.
Those were some of the busiest yet best years of our lives. Our marriage was new and our kids were all young. We didn’t have a lot, and we didn’t know a lot, but what we had and what we knew was enough to carry us through that season and into the next.
We weren’t rich. We weren’t stylish. We weren’t all that hip or cool (in fact, quite the opposite). But… we were happy, in love, and a family. And so were our kids.
I say all of that to say this—YOUR KIDS DON’T CARE!
In 2025, your kids don’t care if you’re rich. They don’t care if you’re famous. They don’t care if you’re hip and up to date on all the new trends.
They don’t care how much money’s in your bank account, the brand of car you drive, or the size of the house you live in.
What they do care about is this… Are you happy? Are they loved? Is your home and family a safe and secure place that they can count on to be there for the long haul?
Are you present? Are you engaged in their daily lives? Are you genuinely interested in them, their dreams, and their struggles?
We just finished a holiday season of giving and getting, and while your kids may love all the goodies received from their wishlist, none of the material possessions you gifted them can compare to or replace the valuable gift of your time, your love, and your commitment to your family.
Having all our grown children (adults and teens now) home for Christmas, we were able to reminisce of those times years ago when life was really crazy, yet really simple—a time when we had so little, yet we had so much.
Those are some of our favorite memories. Surprisingly, they don’t revolve around any of the stuff that doesn’t matter, and all the stuff that does… family, laughter, faith, good times, memories made, and love… lots of love.
As you enter the new year, no matter what season of parenting you find yourself in, never forget that deep down, Your Kids Really Don’t Care about all the things that don’t matter—temporary stuff you’re tempted to put the most emphasis on.
They do care about the lasting things that do—things that only you can give them, and that they will truly remember for a lifetime!
Make 2025 more about those things.
