Prov 19:26 Kids who lash out against their parents are an embarrassment and disgrace.
Prov 19:27 If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own, you’ll soon be out of your depth.
I’m trying to put down a different perspective so we we can all help raise the Godly Generation God is referring to in Mal 2:15.
So to get control of your house, you need to know Eph 6:12 : For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities. If it is then a Spiritual Fight, you can pray for your child, command Satan in the Name of Jesus to stop his hold of pride on your child and be consequent with your training that Jesus gave you as Parents to TRAIN and guide them through life and they should learn to trust their guidance.
Often parents lose their tempers with their little ones and that will not work. Remember, you can’t teach him while he is throwing a tantrum either. Wait till he is calm again.
So, it is possible to be very calm when you set boundaries. If you said NO, just follow through and be consequent. Parents should not disagree in front of the children or allow different things. This confuses the little one terribly.
I think parents should ‘plan’ for the expected ‘outcome’ of each child for when he/she is 21. What Principles, Values and Skills would I like my child to have when he/she is 21? Then work backwards and plan the required steps.
Here I must give some credit to my wife again. I often tell people my children were all on ‘remote control’ by the time they were 6 months old. This means we were never embarrassed by our children when we visited people as they listened when we talked. (My wife just laughs and says – they were older!)
Bottom line, our children behaved because we told them what we expected from them before we arrived somewhere and listened when we talked to them once we arrived somewhere. We always took their toys with so they didn’t have to fiddle with other people’s stuff. If they attempted touching objects, a firm NO was enough to control the situation. A good explanation can also help by saying : “No, John, that item belongs to Uncle Sam and you are not allowed to play with that. Here is your car, play with this”!
Do you think God chose Maria and Joseph specifically for the purpose to raise Jesus? Were they parents who ‘Trained’ Jesus well? As far as Maria is concerned, the answer is obvious but did you know Joseph (and not Maria) is in the list of forefathers of Jesus? – Mat 1:16.
The next Blog is going to be very practical but based on the insight of the Scriptures we have looked at over the last 3 Blogs.