When I was sixteen my Dad gave me access to his pickup truck. Man, I still have great memories of that 1981 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe, v-6, Three-speed on the column. I had fun learning to drive that thing. But, a lesson that I learned that has stuck with me for the past 19 years is that sometimes you have to tell somebody what needs to be done. They don’t always know what to do.
I had been driving for a few months when my Dad wanted to use his truck one afternoon. So, he took the truck and went to town. On his way to town, he heard a clack-clack-clack sound coming from the engine. It seems that noone had the oil changed in the truck, and when he checked the dip stick it was bone dry. When he got home, he began to chew me out for not checking the oil and not maintaining the vehicle. Well, noone had ever told me that I had to do those things. I did not know that I had to check the oil. Luckily for me the engine did not blow up, and the truck was fine.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Don’t always expect your children to know how to do things. We as parents have to tell and teach them how to do things. Whatever the lesson or skill may be, who is teaching your child?
