Don't worry--this isn't about teaching your kids to 'get creative' in fixing the economy. This is about making sure your kids know the real deal when they see it when it comes to unconditional love, acceptance, and the security of home.
Retail management and bankers (along with a few other professions) know how important it is to provide detailed training and instruction to their employees on how to identify counterfeit money. No surprises, there, right? But what might surprise you is to know how they do it--or rather, how they don't do it.
They don't teach counterfeit identification by showing employees counterfeit money. That would be a total and complete waste of time, because when it comes to ways to counterfeit, from what I have read, that infamous line, "...let me count the ways...." would fit perfectly. Instead, employees are trained to recognize counterfeit money by knowing everything there is to know about the real thing. They are trained to recognize EVERY unique identifying mark of genuine currency. From the placement and significance of the characters in the serial number, to recognizing the feel of the raised printing--they are taught to recognize the real thing, so that anything less will automatically set off their 'radar'.
Okay, now for the take-away...
As parents, we need to make sure our kids wake up to, live in, come home to, and go to bed with nothing less than the real deal when it comes to you--their parents. They need to know without a shadow of a doubt that your love, acceptance, and belief that they are a priceless treasure you value more than your own life, is unconditional, unending, and unshakeable. They need to know you won't pull the rug out from under them when (not if) they do less than their best, disappoint you, make mistakes, and when they don't see themselves in this way.
Our kids need to know that you, who are their foundation, is real, so that when they are choosing friends, dating, aligning themselves with employers and social circles, and choosing a spouse, that they know how to choose. That they are able to recognize genuine friendship, loyalty, fairness, and the till-death-do-us-part kind of love.
There is way more than enough counterfeit in the world trying to trip our kids up. There's no way they can learn all the signs and indicators. But when they know for sure and for certain what love, security, and family ARE, they will be able to recognize anything that isn't, and leave it in the dust.
Love,
Momma D
Copyright 2020 Darla Noble. No part of this can be used or copied without permission from the author.
