One of the most important aspects of American society has been outsourced. People for years have been complaining about high return quality jobs – the backbone of any economy – being sent outside our borders to China, India, Mexico, etc.; for cheaper labor prices and greater profits. But there is an even more important thread of the fabric of our nation that has been outsourced… and that is PARENTING!

Music – You cannot go anywhere these days without seeing wires hanging from some kid’s ears. Instead of being tuned into their parents’ stories, example, and instructions they are tuned into what the hip hop artists are rapping, what the teen idols are pontificating about life and love (as if they have any idea about either), and what shock jocks and other loud mouth profane broadcasters spew. Parents just keep the ipod stocked and the media flowing. That’s their new job. (Proverbs 1:8 – Parents are supposed to provide instruction to listen to.)

Television – What parent hasn’t needed “a break” and so the scramble is on to find the proper Television show that will sedate their child(ren) for 30 minutes. Then 30 minutes turns into a feature length Disney presentation. Parents learn that they can have all sorts of “break time” as long as they keep the cable bill paid, and the DVD stand stocked. That, and teaching kids how to use the remote, is the parents’ new job. (Proverbs 6:20 – Parents are to provide instruction to observe)

Video Games – The little brother to Television, not for every kid, but HIGHLY addictive to those that get caught up in them. Computer games are not enough. Many kids these days not only have a Wii, or Xbox, or Playstation 3, but perhaps ALL THREE! Turning off one parent to turn on the next; and when that is not enough there is always the portable gameboy’s and PSP’s. It’s parents’ new job to make sure they are working hard enough to stay up to date on the new release games and gaming systems. (Proverbs 28:7 – Parents are to provide work ethic.)

Computers – Internet, and in particular, social networking sites are the newest craves. Who needs Mom and Dad when the internet and your know-it-all BFF’s on Facebook can tell you just about anything you ever wanted to know (for better or worse). No Bible study, no family time, no prayer time. About the only parenting involved in the computer age is making sure the proper “parental controls” are set on all electronic devices (and most of the time they aren’t). And making sure there is money to pay for the internet connection. (Proverbs 29:3 – Parents are to provide wealth of wisdom)

Extracurricular Activities – Kids’ used to play when parents were at work. When the parents were home they all did things together, or that revolved around the parents’ schedules. Not anymore. Now everything revolves around the kids’ schedules. And it is the kids’ coaches and instructors at extracurricular activities that have the job of teaching teamwork, honor, commitment, etc. The coaches teach, and the parents are supposed to work to pay the tuition and fees for all these activities. (Proverbs 4:1 – Parents are to provide disciplined instruction)

Schools – For thousands of years (and that is literal, not exaggeration), it was the norm for kids to be taught at home by their parents. Only in the last 150 years or so has the norm of “homeschooling” evolved in our society to be something “abnormal” and/or “weird”. Where kids used to be with their parents all day every day, they are now AWAY from their parents 7-8 hours a day for 5 days a week. The new parents, father and mother figures, are their school staff, which spend more waking hours with kids than their birth parents. It’s now the birth parents’ job to make sure their kids don’t say anything about God while at school, to let the school teach them that they came from monkeys, and that all the dinosaurs turned into birds, and to keep working to pay taxes to fund the schools while simultaneously saving for their kids’ college education. (Proverbs 4:3-5 – Parents are to be primary and most influential source of wisdom)

Church – Even the church has taken over the role of parenting in many parents’ minds. It’s the churches’ responsibility to keep our kids off drugs and free of premarital sex. It’s the churches’ responsibility to teach my kids everything about God. It’s the churches’ job to organize events for my kids to be around other church going kids so that they socialize with good people and grow to have good friends. It’s the churches’ job to instill morality and virtue. It’s the parents’ job to put money in the collection plate to fund the church so it can do all those things. (Ephesians 6:4 – In the church – Parent is source of discipline)

So you see, the role of parenting has been outsourced and birth parents these days are more or less relegated to the function of ATM machine to pay for all their kids’ new parents. Of course, with all our jobs being outsourced to foreign countries, where are we going to find a job to pay for the outsourcing of our parenting? We will pay. Believe that! We WILL pay! (Proverbs 17:21 – Begets a fool by not being a parent)

By David Osteen via Grace Gazzette, September 19,2010 Volumn 5 Article 42

Return to the General Articles page

Home / Bible studies / Bible Survey / Special Studies / General Articles / Non-Bible Articles / Sermons / Sermon Outlines / Links / Questions and Answers / What Saith The Scriptures /Daily Devotional / Correspondence Courses / What is the Church of Christ / Book: Christian Growth / Website Policy / E-mail / About Me /