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Families' Fridays

There are three things that need to be said about trying to get your identity from your children:
  1. It is a very natural thing to do, and a very hard thing to fight. In fact, probably every parent falls into this trap in some way, most times without even knowing it.
  2. Parenting is a miserable place to look for identity. Think about it: You are parenting lost, rebellious, foolish, blind, self-ruling sinners. I’m not picking on your children. I have just described every fallen human being born into God’s world.
  3. It’s a crushing burden for your children to have to get up every morning and carry the heavy load of your identity and all the expectations and demands that flow from it. No child will carry that load well.
Paul David Tripp in the article Our Children are not our Trophies.

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