Internships can make big impact

Summer break is finally here and kids all across the country are looking forward to staying up later, sleeping in and having a break from the daily school routine. This week and next week we'll discuss ideas to make your child's summer break more meaningful and memorable.

Exposure vital

You really want to begin exposing your kids to a variety of career options for their future when they are as early as 10 or 11 years old. And not just through conversation and research, but through hands-on experience.

Find out which career fields interest your child. If they are still too young to work during the summer, you can call to set up a tour at a hospital, television station, real estate office, college or whichever field they might want to pursue. Also ask if there would be any opportunities for them to help out for a few hours during the summer so they can see what actually goes on in the workplace.

Internships can be easy to arrange by making a few phone calls. Law offices, doctor's offices and other businesses are often open to having an intern if your child demonstrates initiative, commitment and a good work ethic. Some internships pay a small hourly amount, while many are for high school or college credit only. This type of experience will be a great resume builder and children gain more from working in an environment where they are intellectually and socially challenged.

Experience key

Whatever the case, these experiences will help your child understand the day-to-day work that goes into each career field — beyond just the glamour and salary. This experience is invaluable in helping them narrow their field of study.

For example, your child may desire a career as a TV reporter, but may realize through the hands-on experience the research and writing that goes into the job isn't appealing. Or a child interested in being an architect may enjoy drawing, but may also find there is a need to develop his math skills to do well.

Plan now

So get started planning out summer work plans with your children today. The exposure could be a life-changing experience.

Be open to healing in relationship

This month, in honor of Mother's Day, we talked about healing relationships between mothers and children. There was such a great response to that column, I felt it necessary to further explore this issue.

Father's Day is just around the corner in June, and there are so many out there who need to mend broken relationships with the mothers and their fathers as well.

How do we begin this process?

I often say in communication and life, we must first seek to understand and not just to be understood.

Parents are people, too

When we are first born, I think God gives us all this great ability to believe our parents can do anything. Ideally, they really should be our first representation of God on the Earth. We should be able to depend on them, learn from them and ideally aspire to be a lot like them.

But what if we could rarely rely on mom or dad to follow through on their promises? Or if we saw arguing, depression, anger and hopelessness in them as our example? How can we learn to love, forgive and have a strong relationship with our parents?

It starts with first understanding they're people too.

They started out just like we did, as babies, influenced by their environment and life's circumstances.

Moms and dads have hurts, disappointments and concerns just like us. If you've been hurt by your mom or dad, don't walk in bitterness and try to return a wrong.

Be understanding. I Peter 3:8 tells us to "be of one mind, having compassion for one another... being tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil, but on the contrary blessing knowing that you were called to this."

As their children, we often only see them in the role of a parent. But they had an identity as individuals far before you came along. Think about the way they were raised, the things they went through that shaped the person they eventually became. The relationship they had with their parents also plays a major role in the kind of parenting style they used with you.

Ideally, each generation should go a step beyond the one before them. I hope your parents were able to do more and be more for you than your grand- and great-grandparents did for them. Now you have the responsibility to work to take that a step further for your children.

Talk to your mom or dad about the changes you'd like to see them make and pray for their ability to change. No matter what we've been through in life, we all still have the ability to change who we are. But that is a matter of decision.

If they're not willing to make those changes, move forward and make a personal decision that you will be quick to change, grow and reshape yourself when you receive constructive criticism from those closest to you.