Raising Your Kids In A Fishbowl

I just read a great blog by Craig Groeschel about Raising a PK. Having been one I can really relate to what he wrote, and now that my son is a PK I want to be very deliberate and conscious about how we raise him. Here's his post:

Ministry can be very hard on pastor’s children.

• Your kids will hear you criticized.
• Your kids will watch you hurt.
• Your kids may see you wrongly strike back.
• Your kids might see your hypocrisy up close.
• Your kids might reject the church because you’re always there.
• Your kids may enjoy the extra attention when they are young and despise it when they mature.

No matter how healthy your church is, a pastor’s kid will likely feel a different sort of pressure. Here are a few things we do to help our kids grow up in the fishbowl:

• We put the kids’ activities ahead of the church calendar. If my girls have a piano recital on Saturday night, either I pre-produce the message or have someone else speak.
• I rarely work evenings. The evenings are family time. I also try not to compromise my day off with church needs.
• I don’t talk about my kids in a sermon without their permission.
• Amy and I work hard not to talk negatively about the church.
• We don’t make our kids go to church every week. Every now and then we let them stay home or do something else so going to church doesn’t become a legalistic chore.
• We live our private lives with personal devotion to Christ. We pray and talk about spiritual things with our children regularly.

I don't necessarily agree with not making your kids go to church each week, but the rest are really good. 

What are your thoughts?

ST