We can’t change our children’s hearts and make them cheerful about obeying us, but we can certainly encourage cheerful obedience, and we can help our children see why they can obey with joy. We’ll talk about teaching older children to respect parental authority (as Daniel promised last week) in a future post, but for today let’s look at the attitude behind true obedience. We’ll look at 3 reasons for cheerful obedience, and 4 ways to encourage cheerful […]
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Last week we considered what obedience looks like, and how our own example is an integral part of teaching our children. Today I want to look more closely at some tactics for teaching young children to obey. My children are still young (ages 1, 3, 4, and 6), and I’m thoroughly convinced that these early years are the prime time to be teaching obedience. (Next week, you’ll hear from my […]
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Last week, we looked at some ways we can easily allow our children to disobey. This sparked some good questions, which will be addressed in next week’s post. Before we talk about teaching obedience, it’s important to consider why obedience is so important. Here, as in many aspects of Christian parenting, we should look to the example of our Heavenly Father. Why does God ask us to obey Him? How […]
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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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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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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 →My wife and I are launching on a new Bible study. We’ve often tried to read through the Bible from beginning to end in a year (sometimes we make it, sometimes we don’t), but this time we’re reading through the Bible looking for insights relevant to parenting. I’m already excited about what we are finding. You notice new things when you’re reading with a different perspective! Israel’s early history as […]
Read More →When I wrote about Discipline vs Punishment a few weeks ago, I was surprised by the animated discussion that followed. In the comments and in a post update I added, we talked more specifically about what discipline and punishment look like in the home and what constitutes biblical discipline. About the same time, I discovered an article entitled Training Children for Their Good, by Andy Naselli. I found this very […]
Read More →I wish I had noticed more fully a prayer of Paul’s while we were raising our six children. I would have memorized it. I would have prayed it — every day. I can still pray it — for my adult children, for myself and my husband, for my grandchildren, and for my fellow believers in Christ. Paul is writing to the believers in Philippi, his beloved, his joy and crown. He prays for them as a […]
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