What about me?

I am continually challenged by middle schoolers pushing boundaries to see how far they can go. This is a common trait that we like to say is "typical" of middle school children. As I thought about it, I was convicted to think about my own life and what boundaries I like to push. They are different boundaries then the middle schoolers, but boundaries none the less. We all like to push boundaries in some way or another. I think if we as adults were better at showing middle schoolers the right way to live and stopped telling them the right way to live we would have a mucher higher success rate. I am tired of saying "do as I say, and not as I do", with my actions. No, I never really say that verbally, but I fear we send this message on a regular basis. I will give you a small example. I regularly engage in conversations about appropriate music with my students. Did you know that as a parent, if it is on your ipod, they think that means it must be appropriate for them to listen to. That is the rational I often hear, "Its on my dad's ipod!" Ouch, that it difficult for me to hear, because anything I say from there on out does not matter to that student, dad has already "endorsed" the music. Or even worse they might ask if it is on my ipod. Am I saying that as adults we need to live by the same standards that we hold our middle schooler to? Only if we want our middle schoolers to really accept that standard and make it their own.