Relationships

 
Dear Parents,

Have you given much thought about how to help your child make good friends in the future? Within a few years, your child will be headed into the larger world of high school. Almost certainly that will be a more populous setting. There will be a greater diversity of values in that school. Making good friends is not difficult at Epiphany, because our families in general have very similar values. While no one is perfect, almost any student within your child's class at Epiphany could be a good influence.

This may seem to you like the distant future, but beyond a high school there's the selection and getting along with a college roommate. And not far beyond that is the selection and getting along with a spouse. The same skills apply in each case.

I suggest that even now at your child's tender young age you should ask him or her about friends at school. Ask what their positive and negative attributes are. We all have strengths and limitations. Understanding these strengths and limitations helps to better understand the people around us.

Ask your child what he or she does to foster this relationship. Remember, we can't change the other person, only ourselves. Each of us has a lot to put into a relationship whether that's a close relationship or something more peripheral. Be the listening ear and the guiding mentor in your child's life especially regarding relationships.

There's a lot of complexity to responsible parenting, isn't there? Fortunately, there's also a great joy.

Blessings on your parenting,

Tim Miesner
Principal

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