OUR GREATEST INVESTMENT: OUR CHILDREN

President's Message By
Frank L. VanderSloot
President & CEO

July 2007

This is a wonderful time of year. We have just celebrated Independence Day in the United States and Canada Day in Canada. For all of us, these are times for remembering and honoring those who have given so much for our freedom and prosperity. It’s a time for realizing that many sacrificed their health, gave up their dreams, or even gave their very lives so we might enjoy the many rich blessings we have today and look forward to a better future tomorrow.

As I reflect on those many people in our armed services and think about the supreme investments they made for the good of us all, I have to wonder: Are we honoring their sacrifice in the way we should? Are we making the right decisions every day to thank them for giving us a chance to live our dreams? Are we showing, by our choices, our genuine gratefulness for their sacrifices, or are we simply going from day to day without a thought as to what we owe them?

We can and we should express our gratefulness by making a positive investment in our nation. We can do that by being informed, by voting, and by volunteering our time for the good of our neighbors. However, nowhere can we make a more positive investment in our country than through those who are most precious to us: our own children. After all, our children are not only an investment in the future… they are our future.

But how do we make good on this stewardship? No one prepares us to be parents. We take no courses. We get no official training. We receive no step-by-step guidance. We take no test to prove we are ready or qualified to be parents. Most of our training is from watching our own parents. And since no parent is perfect, our training has also not been perfect.

As parents, we find ourselves making our own mistakes, but deep down we know that the most important thing is to give our children our time, energy, and love. It seems simple, but it’s amazing how often we fail to do just that. What’s often even harder to remember is that many of the choices we make today will have a definite long-term impact on our own children. How we choose to instruct, encourage, and discipline will all have a profound effect on our children’s future lives. Greater still will be the effect of our own example. Far more than anything else, it is through our example that our kids truly learn.

Being there for our children has never been more important than it is today. They are introduced to a constant barrage of sex and violence on TV and in the media in a way that we would never have wanted them to be. The values of our nation and of many of today’s prominent role models are deteriorating at a rapid pace. The potential challenges this creates for our children and the damage that it can do to them is immeasurable.

Parenting is much the same as any endeavor: It requires hard work and patience before you can eventually see results. You may not see the effects today or tomorrow. You may not see them next week or next month. But eventually you will see them, and they will be the direct result of our actions. So you have to work hard, and you have to be patient before you can enjoy the rewards. It might help to remember that these investments will someday pay great dividends when you go home from work and see that little boy coming up to you with a baseball bat in his hand, or that little girl who really wants you to teach her how to fish. Try to remember the importance of your investment when your teenager makes a wrong choice or makes mistakes on his journey to adulthood and needs your encouragement, or when your tiny baby seems to do nothing but cry. Remember that whenever you interact with your child, you’re affecting not only him or her, and not only yourself, but the future of us all.

Children. They are our gift to the nation, indeed, to the world. We must realize that, aside from our spouse, we have no greater responsibility and should have no higher priority. And as we enjoy these traditional holidays and reflect on those who invested their very all for every one of us, we must remember that through the little actions we take every day, especially with our children, we have the chance to say … thank you for giving us this great opportunity. Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

Sincerely,

Frank

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