Invaluable Parenting Skills Learned From The Royal Family

Last night I watched a documentary titled, “Born to Royalty.” I don’t know why, but the royal family of Britain has always fascinated me. I absolutely loved Lady Diana, and was devastated when I’d heard she was killed back in the 90’s. I felt as though I’d lost a friend. Strange, I know :-)!

This particular documentary (and no, I don’t spend every free moment I have reading up on or watching DVD’s of these privileged folks! Just to clarify :-)), was about parenting styles of the various generations of those who occupied and are yet to occupy the throne.

invaluable-parenting-skills-learned-from-the-royal-family

There were examples of strict and rigorous parenting, which begot descendants who later parented their own children in the same way. The consequences of this style of parenting were spoken of, including those that affected King George VI, whom you may have learned about in the excellent film, The King’s Speech. Then there was the shift into more modern parenting techniques adopted by Prince Charles and Lady Di, and now by Will and Kate.

I found it all fascinating… but there was one idea that was mentioned which blew me away. It was a “Duh!” moment. You know, one of those, “Why didn’t I think of that, it’s so obvious?!” moments you get once in a long while?

Princess Elizabeth’s parents, once they knew she would become queen, were said to have placed less emphasis on her academic studies, and far more training into other matters that would prepare her for her destined role of queen. Wow!

It instantly dawned on me as clear as God sees through the earth, that while academics are certainly important, shouldn’t you and I rather invest into our children to prepare them for their God-given, predestined, heavenly ordained roles in this life? Tweet that

Now, granted, we don’t know what form that exact role will take when each of our babes are born (it would have been helpful to have a little note delivered with the baby disclosing that information :-)). However, God’s Word does disclose several roles that our children will need to take, and therefore we as parents, do need to prepare them accordingly.

It is our duty, for example, to train our children for the royal roles of:

Being ambassadors for our Lord

  • Knowing how to articulate the Gospel to others
  • Maintaining a good example of Kingdom principles such as integrity, honesty, and generosity to others
  • Allowing one’s speech to always be seasoned with salt, building others up (1 Thessalonians 5:11), and being ready at every moment to give an account for the reason of our hope

Treating others with dignity and respect

One of the first lessons that is taught to young royals, is to take an interest in others. As long as they know how to be interested in others, the royals are considered to be well on their way to managing their positions! Biblically, this goes right in line with:

  • Considering others as more important than oneself
  • Being humble of heart
  • Displaying the fruit of the Spirit to those around us, and umpteen other commands in the Word that we could follow

Dying to Self

Ouch! This is a hard one to instill into our children, but a practice that every son and daughter of the King is required to live by. We are to teach our young ones to:

  • Sacrifice their own desires, wants, and preferences for the sake of others
  • Give generously, even at the expense of one’s own plans and prosperity
  • Make use of their God-given hours on this earth to serve and glorify God, rather than pursue selfish means to selfish ends. To seek His face daily and utilize every day to further the Kingdom of God; grow in His grace, the knowledge of His Word, and the love for others

 Just imagine if you would invest more time, effort, money, and care into training your children for these Royal roles, rather than in more temporal and futile matters.

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Again, I am not saying that academics are not in order, or even necessary. But I for one intend to devote more of my resources as a mom in preparing my beautiful five children for the ministry of God’s work on this planet.

And may the utterances of God encourage us in these words:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

Where is your focus spent in your children’s lives – more on academics or more on character training? Would love to hear your thoughts…

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