I love the fact that my kids make good friends. And I try to be a good friend to my kids’ friends. That way, their friends will be comfortable in our home, and their parents will be as well. There are too many places that I would not be comfortable with my kids visiting. I want my home to be a place where other parents can trust with their kids.

But that’s not the point of this post.

Sure, I want to be a friend to the friends of my kids. But I also want my friend to be friends with my kids too.

I love it when my kids become friends with my friends. There are so many benefits to this.

First, my kids see what kinds of friends I choose, and how I invest in my friendships. Both of these things are learned best by example. The alternative is to learn this through experience, but who wants their kids to learn how to make good friend the hard way?

The second reason this is so important is that I want my kids to develop friendships with people who are older and wiser than they are. After all, Timothy had an older mentor in Paul, and Paul took the time to invest significantly in the life of this young man, and others as well.

Besides seeing wisdom, these friends are a great asset who can help me teach my kids things in areas where I am weak or unskilled.

For example, I’ve never had the opportunity to go deer hunting. This isn’t because I don’t want to go, I’ve just never had the opportunity to be able to do this. But a friend of mine took my son out hunting the other day. And both of them loved it. My friend got to spend some time with a kid he enjoys. And my son gained an experience that he wouldn’t have been able to do with me. They didn’t get a deer, but my son loved the chance to go anyway. And when someone gave him a “deer hunter’s devotional,” he was pretty excited, since he’s the only deer hunter (even though unblooded) in the house!

I will never regret encouraging my friend to be friends with my kids. And I will never regret allowing my kids to be friends with my friends, either.

Be deliberate, Dad!

Are your friends also friends of your kids? How do you encourage this? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.