Moms, Ignore Bad Advice
I saw a funny video where three mothers were talking about all of the ways they’re failing at motherhood, according to all the articles and videos that have been passed around online.
“I’m a terrible mom,” one lamented. “I told Valerie she was pretty.”
“Oh no!” another scolded her. “Didn’t you get that article I sent you?”
“I know! I forgot!” said the bad mother. “I’m not supposed to comment on her appearance. I’m just supposed to say, ‘You exist.’” They went on and on, confessing all of the ways that they are messing up this parenting gig, according to the internet. Moms laugh at the video because it is true that being a mother these days is fraught will all kinds of ridiculous warnings and threats that we are ruining our children.
We really do live with pretty steady concern over all the things that “they” say we are or aren’t supposed to be doing. But we have got to stop, and here’s why.
The majority of the articles and parenting advice that float around the internet are dispensed by people who have a completely opposite worldview of the one that we have as Christians. So, we Christian parents need to stop letting people who have no understanding of our values or priorities decide how we need to be raising our kids.
We wouldn’t go down to the office of an atheist professor and ask him for parenting advice; we would go to our pastor or to a trusted church friend or to our parents. So, why do we read a bunch of articles written by people who are lost and wandering and clinging to nothing but humanistic psychology and worldly wisdom and then get all worked up if we aren’t doing things the way they say we should?
We have a guide for raising our children: it’s the Bible. We have a community for supporting us and offering help and advice when we need it: our church. And if we want to take to the internet to seek parenting wisdom, let’s go to people who have the same goals in mind as we do: raising godly, kind, humble kids who are confident that they are children of the one true God, and are poised to do great things for His kingdom. Everything else is just fuel for unwarranted mom guilt.
It’s time to consider the source. We need to exchange the ridiculous, kid-centered notions on the internet for faithful, God-centered wisdom we find in scripture and in those who know and love us best.
As parents, we are the hands and feet of Christ in our homes and in the lives of our kids. When we rely on His word and His people for guidance instead of some influencer someplace, we’ll realize that He has perfectly equipped us to do His work with joy instead of fear, with confidence instead of trembling.