What Can the Parents of the Greatest Generation Teach Us About Parenting?

I don’t recall exactly how our conversation turned to this, but a friend and I were discussing the greatest generation. My dad and his siblings were of the greatest generation. His only brother, my Uncle Bob, was pulled from ROTC during his freshman year at Purdue and drafted into the army to fight in W.W. II.As my thoughts turned to my uncle’s ultimate sacrifice, and how that loss affected my grandparents, I queried my knowledge of history and reflected upon the era in which my grandparents reared their children. They birthed a child in 1914, 1916, 1918, and 1922. They were rearing two preschoolers during W.W. I (1914-’18) while giving birth to another child during the time of the worldwide 1918 flu pandemic which lasted two years. Ten years later, they were rearing teens when the country was thrust into the Great Depression. When America entered W.W. II in 1939, their children were young adults.While I believe the title bestowed upon the soldiers of W.W. II and the adult civilians who lived during that era as the greatest generation is well-deserving, I wonder if we should be mindful of and cast some credit to the greatest generation’s parents?! After all, think about the times in which they reared their families, modeling traits of perseverance, love of God, fellow man, and country; patriotism, and perseverance, reliance on God and resiliency. Their faith in God must have transcended their fear and their many challenges. Could these have been the very traits that the upcoming greatest generation of adults would need, learned at the knee of their parents, in order to meet the challenges facing them during World War II?  It certainly gives us food for thought.So, parents – how does this translate to rearing your children today?  Facing a worldwide flu pandemic along with all the other economic, societal, and political disruption has brought many challenges as you parent your littles. While most of you have never navigated a world without microwaves, screens, technological devices, next-day delivery at the tap of a key, and meals delivered at the click of an app, and so on, those have not come without cost.  On the one hand, your generation has incurred many modern conveniences and technological advances. Yet, these advances bring cultural challenges for parents of your generation. Solomon tells us, “There is nothing new under the sun.” And while that is the case due to the problem of original sin, the issues present differently.Consequently, as we ponder the implications of rearing children in this era, how wonderful to know that our God is the same from one generation to the next. Your hope and desires for your children and your trust in the Lord is not unlike the greatest generation of parents. Perhaps this is an invitation to not only feed off of His faithfulness to the parents who have gone before us, but to also be present and intentional in passing on God’s faithfulness in these days as you rear your children, the next generation.Occasionally, I will find myself tempted by doubt – doubt about God. Is he really kind, loving, and good? And then in a split second, I think of the cross. Because of God’s unfathomable love for me and for you, He redeemed us from eternal separation from Him and made a way for us, through faith in Jesus, to spend eternity with Him. Reflecting on the cross, I find that doubt vanishes and trust in God comes quite easily. And while there will never be another generation dubbed the greatest generation, perhaps you are in the midst of rearing a generation who will carry the title of warriors for Christ! We need an army of spiritual warriors now more than ever. May God give you the grace and the courage to rear them!