Parents (And Grandparents) Need To Change Their Time Management

Brett Kunkle writes:

In September, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of parents from Village Academy Christian School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Earlier in the day, I taught the junior and senior high students at chapel and spoke to three different twelfth grade classes. I role played an atheist with the seniors, to give them a glimpse of the intellectual challenges awaiting them at college, and decided to give the parents, who had come out for an evening lecture, a glimpse in the same way.

There was no surprise factor. The parents knew who I was and the Christian organization I represented. Indeed, I told the audience what I was about to do, turned my back on them for just a moment, and then turned round again in full atheist character. I jumped into my role and they jumped into theirs, attempting to defend the faith against atheist professor “Dr. Kunkle.” Sadly, they were ill equipped to handle my challenges. I was glad to see their fighting spirit, but their responses were only vigorous in style, not substance. After half-an-hour, many parents were exasperated and I ended the role-play.

“How was that for you?” I asked. “Extremely frustrating,” was the immediate parental consensus.

“Why was it so frustrating?” I pressed. One mom blurted out, “Because I didn’t have any good answers.” As soon as the words left her mouth, tears began streaming down her cheeks. It was a painful recognition of her own inadequacy and she knew what was at stake. As I glanced around the room, other parents were nodding in agreement, eyes moist with their own tears.

I've said before that I like the role-playing approach that Stand To Reason takes. However, I'd supplement it with more of a discussion of why students and parents are so poorly prepared to argue for their beliefs. It's important that they think in depth about what it is they need to change in their lives. One of the most significant factors is time management, an issue I've often discussed.

I recently overheard a conversation I've come across many times over the years. A man had recently retired. He explained that shortly after retiring, he returned to work. Supposedly, there wasn't much to do after he retired.