I do think that you should have in mind when you are raising your children what kind of person you would like for them to be. If you don't then you have nothing to base your discipline tactics off of. Parenting properly is HARD and I have only just begun. Training in the way that will get you the results of a properly behaved child is time consuming! And remember you are not training them so that they dont embarras you. :o) Annie has starting giving me the "EH!" scream when I don't let her do something she wants! Her fists ball up and she raises up on her tip toes and screams at me! She even attempted to stomp her foot at me today! I want to know who taught her to do that. The problem is that its her sinful nature coming out now that she has the coordination to bring it. :o{
So now I begin on the long difficult road of training a child. My end parenting goal for Annie is that she would believe in God as the Father, Creator of the Universe, ruling still in her life, and that His Son died on a cross for her sins. This parenting goal makes not only my life but her life easier by leaps and bounds!!
It takes a lot of the worry away to know that I can find all the answers to parenting questions in one book. It gives an authority higher than me that she has to answer too if times get really rough. As Christian parents we have accepted the task of raising Annie in a Godly home and using the Word as our guide for what we require of her. The Lord created Annie and chose us to be her parents. She ultimately answers to Him, as long as I bring her up in the knowledge of Christ and instill in her the truth of His Word then I have done my job. Situations WILL arise in parenting that will bring forth lessons in so many areas. She will learn how to be respectful of others and putting others needs before her own, she will learn how to persevere through tough situations and about honesty. She will learn what her role as a woman is as well as what it means to be part of a family and working together all using your gifts and talents just to name a few. I am not worried that I am going to ruin her by not always doing what makes her happy, she needs to know that there are rules in life and that she will not always be given what she wants.
I appreciated Pr Brads mentioning of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Self Actualization being first and foremost in his modle. Christianity is completely opposite in putting God the Father in the center and letting everything else that makes up who you are and what you do center around Him.
When we were little we went to an outdoor, open air, wooden bench, Methodist day camp down the road from our house every summer and these traveling missionary/revival skirt wearing type families would come and teach us little lessons. The one that has stuck with me to this day was on the Fruit of the Spirit. They put the verses to a little song and that is how I remember them still. "The fruit of the spirit is Love and Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance against such there is no law". I bring these up because I love to reflect on their simplicity. Even though each task is most of the time difficult for our human souls to do they are simply put and the verse is not to wordy.
Example: Have Peace, don't fight with your sister instead Love her, I know its hard but it will bring Longsuffering, find the Goodness about her that will bring your relationship Joy instead of hate, be Meek and dont think of yourself as better than her. Maybe what you need is temperance and separate yourselves from one another for a while...ok that one is a long shot but I couldn't leave it out :o) But with applying these things to your everyday troubles will strengthen your Faith!
So these are by far not all of my thoughts on parenting. This subject could be talked about and argued till the cows come home but I have to end it somewhere. Sooo Tag, your it, What are your thoughts?
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