Brag About Your Kids (June 4, 2006)

I like it when people brag about their kids.

I know that such bragging provokes rolled eyes and bitter backlash from those who find it unseemly. I wouldn't say that they're jealous, but I do think that they are too sophisticated for their own (or anybody's) good. If people consider you insufferable for going on about what a great thing your kid did, nuts to them. When Johnny gets sent to a juvenile detention center, share it quietly at prayer meeting - but when he wins the city-wide violin contest, tell everybody! I'll be happy for you.

I got an email from a friend saying that his teenage son "hit his fifth out-of-the-park home run on Saturday, in addition to nailing two base stealers at second and third (while playing catcher) AND he was the game-saving pitcher who set up an unassisted double-play to end the contest." Wow! Wish I could have been there. That must have been great.

I bragged back about my son Peter, who hasn't a single athletic accomplishment lurking anywhere in his body, but who can read upside down. When he was in first grade I noticed that when he read, it did not seem to matter at all to him how the page was situated. I tested him on this ability the other day, handing him (upside down) some unfamiliar reading material with big words in it. He read it fast and clean and without a pause. Dang! (Now if they only gave out college scholarships for that.)

St. Paul bragged about his "son" Timothy ("I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare" - Philippians 2:20), and God bragged about Job ("Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" - Job 1:8). The best thing to brag about concerning your children or protégés is their righteousness. Hopefully they'll give you lots of opportunities to talk them up that way. Then, when my friend's son attracts the attention of professional baseball scouts, and my son blows the lid off the SAT, you will be able to trump us both by saying, "My son is kind." That wins.