Raising P.K.s

About a week ago, I realized something.

My children are P.K.s. (For those of you not familiar with the term, it means 'pastor's kid'.)

I had overheard my husband asking my children if they were willing to share what they had learned in Sunday School with our Friday night Bible study group. (Our group is unique in that all the children sit with us as we study, rather than go to another room to play or watch videos.) Hearing my husband's words brought back memories of my parents calling me over to meet adults, asking me to fill in as teacher or pianist, or telling me that I 'have to' wear a dress to church. There was always some expectation of me as a P.K.

Naturally, I grew up thinking that being a P.K. was the worst thing possible, and it was something that I never wished upon my own children. But becoming a pastor's wife has taught me something-- that we can choose to live by the world's definitions, or we can live by God's definitions. We can be bound by the world's expectations, or we can live as God intended us to live. We can take the idea of P.K. and make it into a legalistic prison for our children, or we can search for God's intent for us as parents.

So now my definition of P.K. has changed. It no longer means children of ordained pastors, who must always smile, be quiet and polite, and wear a shirt and tie or dress and tights on Sunday. They aren't the ones singled out to be an example for other children, the ones who are disciplined more harshly, or the ones who are expected to always take the lead. A P.K. should be every Christian's child, because every Christian should teach their children to be kind, to be servant-leaders and role models for the other children (and sometimes adults), and that they are a valid and vital part of the Body and participants in worship. A P.K. doesn't have to have all the right answers, but he or she should be learning and growing in the Word. He or she is not a perfect child, but one who is learning right from wrong, hand in hand with discipline and grace.

As parents, we have been ordained to be pastors of our families, shepherds of our little flocks. Remember that as you care for your children, your P.K.s, day in and day out.