Moulding and Shaping the Hearts of our Children

Over the past three weeks in my personal devotion time I have been have reading through the Book of Proverbs and have certainly been challenged each day to consider my actions, thoughts and decisions in the light of the Wisdom given in that book.

In essence Proverbs is about making a decision between two choices: Wisdom or Foolishness.

Wisdom, which is best summarised in Chapter 1: 7 ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’. To be truly wise is to love the Lord and be a follower of Christ.

Foolishness on the other hand is to reject God, and rather live for oneself.

Our desire here at Middleton Grange School is for your children to become wise young men and women. Not just wise in the eyes of the world, but wise from God’s perspective. It is young men and women, who like Jesus ‘grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with both God and men.’ (Luke 2: 52. But this task requires three ‘key players’ (for want of a better expression):

1. School

We as a staff and Board of Trustees will do all we can to develop the heart and minds of your children.

2. Church

The church has an integral role in teaching and instructing your children in the paths of wisdom, so please make sure they attend as regularly as possible! 

3. Parents 

Out of ‘school, church and parents’, it is parents who have by far the greatest impact on the character of their children. It is the daily observance by the child of their parents that moulds and shapes the thought patterns and actions of their children. What a responsibility! 

Generally, your children will become the type of parent you are. They will have a marriage relationship like you have. They will have an attitude to work and honesty like you have. Of course, where these examples by parents are not good, it is through the power of grace and the Holy Spirit that children’s lives can be different to their parents – there is hope for my children!

In light of this, I want to challenge parents in what ‘messages’ they give to their children around integrity, resilience and grit (willingness to do hard things). Last Friday we held our Year 9-13 Athletics Day which was a fantastic event. On any given day, we would have around 25 pupils absent in Years 9-13. On Friday we had over 120 pupils absent in Years 9-13 with lots of phone calls to say ‘so and so is away today’.

I absolutely accept that out of the 120 pupils absent, some were genuinely sick and those children and parents know in their heart that it was legitimate to be away from school that day.

What concerns me greatly is the number of parents who have ‘supported’ their child’s unjustified absence last Friday because their child did not want to participate in the Athletics Day. What lie will parents give to the school to ‘justify’ an absence from school? What message do we give our children that somehow truth is not relevant if it suits our purposes? How does ‘giving in’ to a child in this situation promote resilience and grit in doing something they did not want to?

Again, let me repeat, I know that a number of pupils had legitimate reasons for their absence on the day. My challenge is to those parents who allowed their child to just stay at home without a valid reason.

Every action we take with or for our children are ‘teaching’ moments. Let’s ensure that they are ‘wisdom building’ moments.

Richard Vanderpyl

Principal