Wednesday, April 12, 2006

ahh...peer pressure

my nearly 3 year old daughter, ellie, has a little friend-a beautiful little girl who shall remain nameless. they play together often. the other day ellie had a stint with her "best friend" and afterward i noticed her talking differently... pronouncing thing differently, "I was wwwolling it" she says to me. i tried to correct her... like most kids her age, she's never said her Rs perfectly. But like most anal parents my age, i try to use these moments as teaching ones. "Rrrroling" i say to her, "Rr-rrr-rrr-rolling." "No daddy!" she fires back, "Www-www-www"

that's the power of influence that comes with friendship. Ellie had thrown away what we've been teaching her for months in favor of saying things the way her little friend does. Not a big deal now, but i'm dreading when the same happens at 16.

I've been writing a few entries about friends lately. And this is just one more example of the crazy power that friends have over each other.

Now don't worry, i'm not warning you against the evils of peer-pressure. I actually telling you to seize the opportunity that friendship presents you... to influence others--not in selfish or sneaky ways, but in ways that'll make you both nicer to be around and more Christ-like. That will make you both brighter lights in the world.

It may seem manipulative to talk this way, but the truth is that you WILL influence your friends anyway, i'm advocating being intentional about it, for their good, for yours, for the good of the world and the cause of Christ... okay maybe that sounds a little cheesy and hopeful, but i really believe if we don't get intentional about the influence we already exert, then before we know it the whole world will be talking about "Wwwascally Wwwabits" and things of the sort.

2 Comments:

At 4/12/2006 09:53:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well put, very true, too often overlooked.

 
At 4/13/2006 06:01:00 AM , Blogger Brett Veenstra said...

Great, now I'm feeling pressure to make another blog entry! :P

 

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