“The national survey of 1,200 adults with children under 18 at home found the most common definitions of successful parenting include children having good values (25 percent), being happy adults (25 percent), finding success in life (22 percent), being a good person (19 percent), graduating from college (17 percent) and living independently (15 percent). Being godly or having faith in God is mentioned by 9 percent of respondents.

Parents who attend religious services weekly are particularly likely to emphasize faith in God, but only 24 percent of them identify that as a mark of parenting success, the research found.”

I was not terribly surprised to see the results of this LifeWay Research survey regarding the role of faith in parenting. Our culture does not define “success” in terms of faith.  Rather, success is defined in terms of happiness, success, works, achievement, wealth, etc. I was disappointed, however, to see that faith has very little to do with many Christian parents’ definitions of successful parenting.

Is it not the desire of every Christ-following parent that their children are reconciled to Almighty God, serve Him, and, ultimately, spend eternity worshiping him? My wife and I, married less that two years, do not yet have children. Yet, this is my prayer for them: that, by God’s grace, my wife and I are able to lead them to a saving faith in their Savior. I can think of no better way to define success.

This short news story is a must read. Imagine sending your children off to school only to have them return home in tears with the new-found knowledge that Santa Claus is NOT REAL! Apparently this happened in a British primary school where a teacher told a class of 25 students, “It’s your parents who leave out presents on Christmas Day.” Unfortunately, the story was not accompanied by a video documenting the students’ reactions.

How have you chosen to handle the “Santa Situation” in your home. Have you told your kids that Santa isn’t real? Did you believe in Santa when you were a child? Should children be told the truth about Santa (painful as it may be) or allowed to believe that he exists? Please comment…