The Blessing of Siblings
A little while back, my wife took my oldest son on a special trip where they could spend time together as momma and son and really build their relationship. She sent me pictures that not highlighted their time together, but also his engagement with other young people. After they went on bike rides, they would spend time at parks and other open areas where other children were playing and having a great time. Almost immediately, my oldest son was making friends, playing games, and building relationships with other children who just a few minutes before had been total strangers. And all this from a boy who has been home educated his entire life!
I remember, when I was growing up as a homeschool boy, hearing the often repeated “how will they be socialized” argument against my parents’ choice of school. That has largely been shown to be a non-issue with the evolution and progress of home education. I also remember my mother-in-law making this profound observation—if children can get along with their siblings, they can get along with anybody. Well, let it be known to the wide world of humanity, my experience as a homeschooling dad has only led me to say “Amen!” to the wise words of my wife’s mother.
No doubt, if you are a parent of children, you will readily agree with the fact that when your children learn to get along with and love each other on a consistent basis, the dynamic of your home – as well as the dynamic of your public engagement – has dramatically altered. To be sure, our children seemed to grasp the idea of being “fit for public consumption” much sooner than they did the blessing of private peace with their God-given siblings. And this just highlights the importance of learning how to teach our children the blessing of having brothers and sisters.
With this in mind, I hope to use this area of the blog (through engaging video and text posts and interviews) to encourage and show ourselves and our children how fun and blessed it can be to pursue healthy, happy and loving relationships with our siblings. With those special people that – out of all the world – our Father in heaven chose to put us with to grow up into adulthood and maturity.
Think of it. Your siblings (or super close friends, if you were an only child) are – or have been – HUGELY instrumental in making you the person you are today. It is therefore super important that we learn afresh and revisit the blessings of siblings and how we can encourage and build up sibling relationships with fun, love, service and closeness so that our children – and even we as adults – can learn the blessing of Psalm 68:6. God puts the lonely and solitary in families.
