Teaching your children to forgive will greatly influence their future.
Let’s face it; there is no way to avoid hurt in life. No matter how hard we try we will all be hurt by someone at sometime.
One life skill that I have tried to instill in my daughters is the skill of forgiveness. Just the other evening after a long day when I was tired and vulnerable to be short with my girls; I said something hurtful to my oldest daughter. I could see the hurt in her eyes as soon as the words came from my mouth. She immediately left the room without a word spoken. I knew I had messed up!
Several minutes later my daughter and I sat down and I apologized for what I had said. My daughter’s response was, “It’s ok”. This is a very common response to an apology; however; it is not the correct response because no matter how you look at it, it’s not ok. I looked at her and said, “It’s not ok; will you forgive me?”. Then she said those wonderful words, “I forgive you dad”.
Honestly there is more to forgiveness than this. Forgiveness is a complex process with many twists and turns. And it is our responsibility as parents to begin to teach our children how to forgive when they are young.
Finally, in order to teach forgiveness, we must be able to appropriately forgive others. Let’s remember; non-forgiveness leads to bitterness that is a cancer to our soul. Help your children be healthy by being healthy yourself.