Role Models for 11 year old

[Zel1983]

My 11 year old son takes TaeKwonDo (Martial Arts) and enjoys it very much. His main instructor has been living with his girlfriend, another instructor, for a while and now she is pregnant. My son knows they are not married because they have said it often. I explained to him that not all people believe in doing things the way we believe in doing them. These are role models for my son and I don’t know if its harming him to see the way they are living their lives. I am thankful that she chose life over an abortion. Any thoughts??

 

[Della]

Is your son also involved in your parish in some way? I highly doubt that one influence would be enough to send him down the path of sin. You and your family are more of an influence on him than anyone else. If you are making your home a “domestic church” with regular prayer and discussion of Church teaching (as it applies to you children’s lives) I think he will be fine. Let him know why it is wrong for his instructor and his girlfriend to be doing what they are by living in sin, but also let him know only God can judge the hearts of others. Keep what you tell him truthful but in a loving way, and he’ll be just fine. After all, you can’t shelter him from the world. It probably isn’t such a bad thing that he is seeing people living in ways that aren’t right so he can see for himself how selfish it is and how it does have consequences.