Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
John 5:19-20 (NIV 1984)
Jesus declared that it was an act of love for the Father to show the Son what the Father was doing. The context of this passage is the Jews were trying to kill Jesus because he was making himself equal with God. Applying this to parenting, a child does not truly reach equality with their parent until after they have grown and left home. Jesus identifies an important key to preparing your child for that eventuality. Are you loving others as Christ commanded us to love and are you including your children in that expression of love so they see you loving others?
I taught 3 and 4 year-old Sunday School for about 10 years. Besides songs, stories, and crafts, I made a deliberate effort to individually bless each of the children in my class. I also brought my children who were 3 to 13 along to work with me. Eventually our oldest son at 14 went on to serve the children’s pastor as an assistant. Today that son serves as an elder in his church, teaches junior high school Sunday school, and leads his children in “Daddy adventures”. Five of our six children have chosen to help with a children’s ministry in their own church. From what I see, each one has done better than I did. They are more creative and have a better idea of how to manage the children than I did. It seems even my feeble efforts gave my children vision and confidence to serve.