Parenting lessons from McDonalds

You Deserve A Break Today
Look for the Golden Arches!
McDonald’s is your kind of place
You deserve a break today
We do it all for you
Nobody makes your day like McDonald’s can
It’s a good time for the great taste of McDonald’s
It’s Mac Tonight
What you want is what you get
Have you had your break today?
Did somebody say McDonald’s?
Put A Smile On
I’m lovin’ it

My first job was giving birthday parties and tours at McDonalds when I was fifteen years old. By the time I retired from the Golden Arches (at the ripe old age of 17) I was working for a McDonald's franchise owner in the Marketing Department for his five stores. Many things have changed over the years for McDonald's (slogans)and myself (career path). But you know what hasn’t? The hamburgers. Did you know that the basic McDonald’s hamburger hasn’t changed much since the 1950s. It is easy to see that the McDonald’s formula, the one from way back in the beginning, hasn’t changed much. The bun, the burger, the pickle, the onions, the ketchup, the mustard. It was all there. And it still looks exactly the same. I find comfort in consistency, don't you?
Let’s relate that to parenting. The parenting techniques and buzzwords/slogans have changed over the years but Godly parenting has not. At the end of the day parenting begins and ends with relationships.
1. It is about your relationship with God
2. Your children’s relationship to God
3. Then your relationships with each other.
Don’t forget if your relationship with God is right and you are teaching your children to have a relationship with God then relationships with each other will fall into place. God never changes. There is comfort in His consistency.
And that is certainly something McDonald’s gets and we as Christians should get.
Even though McDonald’s certainly listens to the needs and wants of its patrons and tries to come up with new and exciting and innovative eating ideas for its restaurants, you can walk into (or drive thru) any McDonald’s restaurant in any city, in any town, or even country and get the same hamburger. Just like you could back in the 50's and the 60's and the 70's.
Relate that to your parenting. As a parent you listen to the needs, wants and requests of your children but always point them back to your mutual relationships with God and check what you are doing against his word.
*For more information visit crosspointechurch.tv
**To take a trip down McDonald's memory lane go to http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcd_history.html