but being a PK sure does suck: part two

I think I’ll always remember the story of how on the first Sunday of which I was alive for my Dad put up pictures of me all around the church. Sure, it was sweet, but I guess it set the tone for the rest of my life as a PK. One of being in the lime light, everything I ever did was known by everyone else.

A PK doesn’t have a normal sized family; it has to expand its family to the rest of the church. It can be helpful at times, for if I ever needed a place to crash I had one. If ever I needed meals, all I had to do was walk into one of the many homes opened to me. But then there’s the times when everyone knows exactly what’s going on. From your problems to your triumphs. From your downfalls to your victories. Everyone would be there to congratulate you as soon as something good happened in your life. But as soon as something bad happens, a sin uncovered or a fault laid bare, then the large family suddenly becomes your biggest nightmare.

PK’s are always the last to be asked if they need mentoring or just a chat. Either their to busy catering to others emotional needs or people assume, even though they do actually know it’s probably not the case, that since you’re the Pastors child everything ‘must being going great!!’ And even if they aren’t, then you’ve got your parents to talk to, right?

In all honesty (not trying to put down parents or anything) what sort of teenager talks to their parents about their deepest troubles? If you do, then that’s awesome! But most teenagers don’t. So just because someone has a pastor as a father, it does not mean they talk openly to them about everything! And then there’s the problem about how ‘if I do talk to someone in the church about it, then it will get back to my dad anyway.’ I think all pastor’s kids have that problem!

Which leads to trust issues. How are we supposed to trust people when we know it’ll get back to our parents? When we know that the congregation is just waiting for us to slip up so they can pounce on us and tear us to pieces because ‘we’re supposed to be perfect.’ Believe it or not, PK’s are not perfect! And neither are their families. We see the down side to church leadership. We see their hypocrisy and their faults. We know they’re just human, but their the ones preaching about it! So how are we supposed to trust the people in church leadership roles when we see them fall short of even their own expectations!

And how are we supposed to live up to their expectations when they themselves can’t? We don’t have room to make mistakes.

PK’s are a driving force behind the Pastor, yet they are forgotten about. We are told off for what we wear, for the things we say. We are judged day in, day out for the people we hang out with, for our bad moods.

The church needs to realize how much influence they have on the Pastor’s children. They have the ability to make the experience as a PK either an amazing experience, or hell.

Sure, we got plenty of extra Christmas and birthday presents with such a large family and you get to be a member of the unspoken ‘PK Club’, but being a PK sure does suck.