Who are your children’s friends?

Speaking on the phone with one of the children who is away in boarding school, he said he had just had a long conversation with a friend who is many miles away.

“We spoke about living purposeful lives and Bob mentioned how he lives each day intentionally. He told me that he loves and appreciates his old phone because that is what he has in this season and he was “not grumpy about it!”

Listening quietly, I could tell that the phone conversation with his friend who is even two years younger than my child had made significant impact so much so that my child wished he had taken notes.

If there is anything that influences our children at all levels aside from the influence they get from home or from their teachers, it is their friends.
I watched a clip recently that asserted that the there are no good children who later became cantankerous and rebellious who had not been made so by the influence of bad friends. Our children’s friends have the ability of influencing them for good or for worse.

This got me thinking, who are my children’s friends? Do I know or understand them? Must I know them and if so, why? Does this even matter?
When children are younger, their friends influence and impact how they dress, what meals they desire to eat and what they want to do in life. “Irene’s mother is a policewoman. She wears police uniform and carries a gun. I also want to be a police woman when I grow up!”

The neighbours children shout at the aunt, who takes care of them at home and before you know it, your children are shouting at their helper at home. Learned behaviour, peer influence. Every time I think about things that I am limited in the ability to do anything about the set circumstances, I remember that I have the ability to pray and by prayer, I have influenced and effected change through the years.
Every parent needs to pray for their child. How else does one navigate the uncertain waters of parenting in this ear? Worrying and fretting about the children will surely not yield results. I tried it several times, it does not work.  

Talking to our children about various things is important and it works, but it will not get everything sorted. The fact is, we do not have control over our own lives, how else can we claim to have control over our children? 
Let me continue praying and trusting my children’s present and future with the very one who created them that they will have wholesome and enriching friendships and relationships both now and in the future.