In his guest post on Michael Hyatt’s blog, John G. Miller, author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question makes some very strong statements about the responsibility of parenting, that some may disagree with or even be offered by, but that we all need to hear.
These are “no excuses” parents. They don’t blame the famous for the “poor example that they set” and would never employ the grand parental excuse: “My child didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, because he got in with the wrong crowd.”
Leadership at home is captured in this statement: My child is a product of my parenting. Any other view of parenting is irresponsible folly. Excuse-making is never part of a leader’s world.
Miller has caused me to wonder if I am modeling, false entitlement, procrastination, finger pointing or any other poor example for my boys and those around me. While Miller does not acknowledge that there are some aspects to child rearing that we cannot influence through our environment we may need to temper his message and recognize that there are a few instances when even the right modeling won’t make the difference. Even though we should acknowledge that there is a balance of nature and nurture that contribute the development of our children I warn anyone from dismissing Miller’s argument because of a few exceptions. Perhaps he covers those exceptions in his book.
