Parenting Tip

Proverbs 22:15 “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.”

It’s unfortunate that now, kids adhere mostly to peers and not their parents. William Brown said: “If there is any single, secular God for the teenager it is the God of conformity. . . . Being different for teens is a fate worse than death.”

In today’s busy world, some parents fail to make homelife  inviting or less enjoyable to kids – don’t deny this, you might have spend more time facebooking than actually talking to your kids. 😛 Doing so makes peer influence play a big role in their lives.

My kids are aged 10, 8 and 5. I can’t feel much pressure for now compared to friends who have teeners but I’ve seen how the world those kids are living in are affected by too much commercialism, materialism and less respect for the people around them. Quoting from the bible again,  But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves… “disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection”—2 Timothy 3:1-3. If there’s a lack of affection at home, children will look elsewhere for emotional support—mostly to their peers and it’s their values and attitudes that the kids will most probably adopt. Unfortunately, lack of affection causes much emotional turmoil and no wonder suicides of a younger age bracket are in the news lately.

 He who spares his rod [of discipline] hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines diligently and punishes him early. Proverbs 13:24

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Who said being a parent is easy? It’s a humongous task and we can’t do it alone. As a parent myself, having hubby beside is not enough, I should have the bible too and God alongside – unwinding the foolishness in a child’s heart is like playing a recording all-over again, every hour of the day. Deuteronomy 6 says:

“⁶And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then]   ⁷You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets (forehead bands) between your eyes.   ⁹And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

God knows how important discipline is for a child and by constantly reminding them, we too are reminded of our responsibility to develop the inheritance that he himself gave us. Disciplining, or the rod mentioned above is not necessarily or not always literal…for the bible is against abuse and violence, this pertains too to parents’ authority administered lovingly.

Hebrews 12: ⁶And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then]

    ⁷You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

    ⁸And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets (forehead bands) between your eyes.

    ⁹And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for only a short period of time and chastised us as seemed proper and good to them; but He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.

¹¹For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness–in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].

(Yes, the same as what’s written in Deuteronomy 6…truly showing emphasis, not only for parents to their children but a discipline from God to us.) Remember, spare the rod and spoil the child but do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord…

*posted as a reminder to myself