Our Influence On Children

I wonder how many of us adults ever stop and think about how are actions and words affect our children, grand-children, nieces, nephews and even our friend’s children? They have such impressionable minds that are so easy for us to mold and shape. A lot of times we don’t realize the influence that we have on them.

I was standing in a check out lane at a local grocery store when I noticed a little boy and his grandfather just ahead of me. As they were waiting their turn in line, the boy’s papaw was talking to another person. When it finally became their turn at the checkout, Papaw continued with his conversation and the small boy began his struggle to reach into the buggy and place each item on the counter.

When his papaw realized what was going on, he started to unload the buggy but his grandson quickly protested. He told his papaw that he would do it! So the older man turned back to his conversation.

When the boy was almost finished, I began to wonder about the last item in the buggy. I knew it was much too heavy for the child to move, but in his mind I can imagine that he was picturing himself big enough to move it for his papaw. Finally, his papaw turned around and put the case of beer on the counter.



I wouldn’t have been surprised if the boy’s imagination took him to a time when he was much older and would be able to drink a beer with his papaw. Maybe in his child’s mind he was old enough. “If it’s good enough for papaw, then why isn’t it good enough for me?” Why should he have Kool-Aide when he could have an “adult drink”? Maybe he did have a drink with his papaw. I’ve known of adults who thought it was cute to see their children drunk.

This reminds me of an anti-smoking commercial from 1967. It showed a boy who copied every move his father made. Finally the father took his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and put the last one in his mouth, then threw the empty pack on the ground. His son picked up the empty pack and looked at it. The narrator said, “Like father, like son.”

I was visiting a friend when I noticed that she was letting her infant son play with an empty cigarette pack. To me, she was sending him a message that said it was OK for him to smoke. Sure he was just a baby, but babies learn by imitating their parents. “Like Mother, Like Son”.

We all have choices in life about whether we take up habits like smoking or drinking alcohol and a lot of times these habits become addictions. But when we as adults model this type of behavior in front of children, what are their choices when they copy us? A 6 year old child whose father thinks it’s “cute” to give his son a drink of his beer may be on his way to becoming an alcoholic before he reaches the legal age to buy beer.

Let's help our younger generation make the right choices.