Week 3-THUR

Day 14 – The Importance of Solid Friendships

Verses:

Proverbs 13:20 – “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” 

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”

Lesson: Friendships shape character. The people your children spend time with influence their values, choices, and outlook on life. Teaching kids how to choose friends wisely is just as important as teaching them how to treat friends well. Encourage them to seek companions who are kind, honest, and supportive, and guide them in being a good friend themselves. Being a good friend means listening, showing empathy, keeping promises, and standing up for one another. It also means knowing when to walk away from relationships that are harmful or toxic. Friendships are a two-way street: we give, we receive, and we grow together. When kids see their fathers invest in meaningful friendships and handle conflict with respect, they learn how to do the same.

Reflection: Ask yourself: “Am I modeling the kind of friendships I want my children to have?” Examine how you treat your friends, mentors, and colleagues. Are you loyal, supportive, and trustworthy? Your children are observing whether you invest in people who challenge you to grow and whether you know when to distance yourself from negativity.

Insight: Andy Stanley, son of well-known pastor Charles Stanley, often emphasizes a simple but profound truth: “Your friends will determine the quality and direction of your life.” Research strongly supports this. Studies show that a child’s peer relationships are one of the strongest predictors of their future well-being, even more than the parent-child relationship in adolescence.

For parents, this can feel both reassuring and a little unsettling. On one hand, it means you don’t have to be perfect for your child to thrive. On the other, it reminds us that we don’t always have direct control over the influences shaping their world.

This is why taking the time to understand who your child spends time with is so important. Their closest friends play a significant role in shaping their values, habits, confidence, and sense of identity. A supportive, encouraging friend can lift them up, challenge them in good ways, and help them make healthy choices. But the wrong influence can slowly pull them in a direction that doesn’t reflect who they truly are or who they are becoming.

As fathers, our role is not to choose our children's friends for them but to guide them in recognizing what healthy, loyal, and positive friendships look like. We do this by talking openly about character, by modeling respectful and uplifting relationships in our own lives, and by being present enough to observe the dynamics around them.

Family Mantra: "Friends shape futures."

Prayer: Father, thank You for the gift of friendships. Teach my children to choose companions wisely and to be loyal, kind, and trustworthy in return. Help me model relationships that reflect Your love and wisdom, and guide our family to build bonds that uplift, encourage, and endure. Amen.