No parent wants disobedient children. But it’s surprisingly easy to let our children get away with disobedience. It’s easy to allow outward obedience accompanied by whining, complaining, or grumpy looks. It’s easy to allow a child to correct us, debate with us, or tell us how she will obey on her own terms. It’s easy to resort to cajoling, reasoning, manipulating, distracting or bribing. It’s easy to issue threats, give […]
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It’s so quiet here tonight. We watched an entire movie without interruption. I read part of a book (that didn’t have pictures). I ate dinner without cutting anyone else’s meat or cleaning up any spilled milk. There are no toys to pick up, no paper sticking to the glue on the counter, no books to gather, no missing hand towels, no bedtime stories, no misplaced pajamas, no last minute drinks. […]
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We’ve talked about why we need to take our children to the cross when we discipline them. We’ve talked about how our children may respond if we fail to give them the hope that is ours through Christ’s death on the cross. Now how do we raise children who are secure in God’s love? How can we help them rest in Christ’s saving work on the cross, secure in His love, even […]
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We need to handle God’s Word with care as we discipline our children. In our last post, we considered the need to give our children the hope of the gospel when we correct them. If we only take them to the Bible to show them how God says to live, we’ve missed our prime opportunity to tell them how they can live that way. They’re not going to obey God by […]
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Have you ever looked in the mirror an hour or two after dinner only to discover that a portion of your meal is still stuck in your teeth? You probably took care of the problem as quickly as possible (while reviewing in your mind how many people you had smiled at since you ate). You rinsed your mouth. You brushed your teeth. The mirror helped you see what was wrong […]
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Sometimes I take care of the kids for a few hours while my wife goes out. Other times, when she’s sick, I step in to help do some of her work and keep the household running. That’s what I’ve been doing the past few days. How she ever has dinner ready AND the house clean when I come home at night, I don’t know. It never happens when I’m in […]
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I’m heading to Florida this weekend for a one-day conference. I fly all day Friday, talk on Saturday, and get back on a plane at 6 a.m. (which will feel like 3 a.m. to me) on Sunday morning to fly back home. 😛 So I’m trying to shift my body from Pacific Time to Eastern Time now, since I won’t have much time to turn my internal clock around while […]
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I remember some pretty exhausted seasons of parenting. It used to feel like my children were taking shifts. One would challenge us in a particular way, and then, about the time it felt like we were figuring out what to do with that situation, the next child would punch in with a completely different problem. Sometimes their “shifts” were each only a few minutes long and the problems were resolved […]
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As a dad of four children ages 1 to 5, sometimes I’m tempted to think these early years are unimportant. But I know that’s not true; the way we treat a child from age one to five will have a huge influence on how the rest of his childhood and his life will turn out. These early years of life are likely the most critical and formative ones. Here are […]
Read More →We’ve spent a month studying this one amazing psalm. We’ve slowed down to meditate on these blessings that David urges his soul — our ours — to not forget. Many of us have realized in a new way that we really are forgiven, that we really are loved with a steadfast love that is not going to let us go. What can we do to help us not forget? What will help keep us anchored […]
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