Teaching Tuesday/ DON'T Parent Based On People's Opinions
- Bonnie
- Aug 4, 2020
- 3 min read
People can be so fickle. Take these two pictures for example. Same boys - oh wait a minute, I guess I should introduce them.
The picture was taken March 2001 -
Front row : Adam & Gabriel
Back row: Joseph, Greyson, Ricky, and David
Now, like I was saying, same boys in both pictures, but in the first picture I had told them to behave and act normal. Then directly following that, I told them to be silly. Hence, the silly faces because Mama changed her mind.
I know it's kind of a corny example, but people honestly change their minds about really serious things just that fast!
That's why it's so important to NOT be swayed by people's opinions, especially when it comes to parenting! Those are your babies, your children that Father God of the universe gave stewardship of into your loving hands. You can't raise children the way Uncle Bubba, Aunt Lulu, and Granda Ma Ethel thinks you should. I hope none of you have relatives with those names, but the point is they probably don't agree either, so don't try to please them while parenting your children.
There's only One (well, two if you have a spouse) that you should ever spend thoughts on pleasing when stewarding the souls of these God given gifts - your children. That ONE would be the giver of all good gifts that blessed you with children in the first place - Daddy God!
Ask Your Loving Father how He wants your children to be raised? What behaviors does He want you training them to have? And especially what character traits and morals does He want instilled in them? Not only what does He want them to learn, but how do you go about getting the proper character building into your children.
You know people say that children don't come with an instruction manual, but that's just not true. Daddy God gave us His copy. It's called the Bible, and any and everything you will ever need to know about how to raise your child is in the BOOK! But just like any instruction manual, if you don't take time to read it, it's not going to do you any good. Sadly, we treat our Bibles just like instruction manuals. We think we can put that item together without reading the instructions, and we get it half done only to realize that we skipped a step or two. So many times, this same scenario plays out in parenting. We've ignored the Bible, God's BASIC INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE LEAVING EARTH, til that teenager makes a bad choice and then we go back and grab the instructions. Hoping that we can find the answer to undo our foolishness of not asking in the first place.
The Good News is that God always welcomes His children back, regardless of how old or how long we've been trying to wing it without His instructions or opinions. So, when you're trying to decide how to parent He's the One to concern yourself with about what He thinks. Unlike cousin Joe, He always has the perfect solution, even for fixing our mistakes.
Footnote: Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. The 2nd one you need to be concerned about is your spouse, or your child's other parent. The best gift you can ever give your child is for their parents to be in full agreement about how to parent them. It brings such stability, boundaries , and comfort to their lives. It makes them feel safe and loved. But I'll teach on that subject more at another time.
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