1. It’s important to be in touch with our children’s feelings.

2. We must not allow self-obsession to cause us to put our children on a performance standard.

3. Passive parents can create insecurity and anger in their children.

4. We reap what we sow, but self-punishment is not the answer to our problems.

Especially in today’s climate it seems easy for fathers to be out of touch with their children. Obviously, Jacob was severely out of touch with his children. I can’t imagine that he would knowingly send Joseph into harm’s way. That should be our main concern today as dad’s – too stay in touch with and understand exactly where our kids stand. This takes commitment to invest in the lives of our kids.

I think principle 2 listed above is huge and is the most common mistake I see parents make, especially dads. Kids want to be loved for who they are and not what they do!!

Jacob ignored or refused to deal with things as they occurred in his life. Choosing instead to ignore them for the most part and was definitely more concerned with his reputation (see Genesis 34:30) than the well-being of his family.

Jacob refused to be comforted after what happened to Joseph and basically continued to mourn Joseph and punish himself for the mistakes he had made. All of us will make mistakes and yes, those mistakes will have consequences that may affect the rest of our lives and/or our children’s lives. That does not give us the right to dwell in those mistakes and live with the attitude of “woe is me”.

Especially for us, who have the promise of Christ!! There is forgiveness in Christ and if we have sinned against our children, then we must seek their forgiveness with Godly sorrow. It is important that we demonstrate Christ’s love by moving past our mistakes.

Peace and thanks for reading!