Harvard can wait!

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

~ Abraham Lincoln

Before Susan commandeered the television last night to watch the last of the blind auditions on The Voice, I was channel surfing and came upon one of the "news" channels.

The host was speaking to her guest about some polling regarding Millennials and Gen Z kids.

The data from these surveys suggested that today's parents are way too quick to stay way too connected in unhealthy ways to their 18-30 year old children.

The survey showed that protecting these young adults from failing or falling has become the norm,a continuation of the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality that has become so prevalent in our culture.

The guest offered up the following:

"As a parent, my job is to prepare my children to get into Heaven, not Harvard".

Fantastic!

Of course this intrigued me so I had to Google the quote.

While I could not find any one person that this was attributed to, it seems that this is a movement among Christian parents, paving the way to the Kingdom to come rather than striving to succeed in getting to a prestigious college.

While I am not so sure about the whole afterlife thing, I must admit that I truly believe that this has been and remains my role as a parent.

For years, I have espoused the belief that the only thing that mattered to me when it came to raising my kids is that they grew up to be good, decent, respectful people.

This was not so that they could gain entry through the pearly gates.

It was to ensure that they lived a life as good people.

In our house, it was all about #5, the 5th commandment (Old Testament!).

Honor thy mother and father.

I would tell my kids"If you do that, the outcome is inevitable".

"In everything you do, every day of your life, every minute of every day, the choices you make have consequences."

"At the end of that day,will you be able to look into your parents eyes?"

Conversely, I try to lead my life with that same mindset.

Can I look into the eyes of my children and not be ashamed of my actions today?

Harvard can surely wait.

The truth is, it probably isn't for everyone.

It's all of the other stuff that seems way more important.

But then again, that's just me.