We never think about it much, but Jesus can give our kids great tips on how to grow up well. The Bible doesn’t tell us a whole lot about Jesus before he was an adult, but if you combine what it does tell us with what we know about the culture in that time and place, we have a lot of guidance. The best part is Jesus gives your kids the perfect example of how to mature.
Author: Thereasa Winnett
Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.
Kids, Consequences, and Anger
Recently, several parents have mentioned they don’t believe in consequences for young children who disobey. Evidently, everyone under the age of thirty took a vote and decided consequences were old fashioned and made children angry. Unfortunately, they forgot to check the ultimate book of godly wisdom – Proverbs, before voting. I am not referring to the infamous “spare the rod, spoil the child” verse (which by the way is a misquote – see Proverbs 13:24). Even if you ignore that particular verse, Proverbs is filled with admonitions for young people to embrace correction and reproof as a way to grow and become wise and godly.
These young parents are absolutely correct though. Punishment, correction and reproof tends to make people angry. In a very few cases, some people do go overboard, become abusive and encourage rage in their children. I do not think God in any way condones that sort of behavior. There are too many other verses pointing out the amazing love parents have for their children to assume God approves of parents abusing them.
Kids, Careers, and God
Just when I think I have heard of every possible career, I see something like this. Who knew there was such a thing as geese police? Part of the fun of having a child is helping them explore all of the possibilities for future careers. Don’t just limit yourselves to the standard doctors, lawyers, business people and teachers. Check out books on fun careers. Read biographies with your children about people with unusual career paths. Take your child to watch people at work in all sorts of places.
Career exploration is important and can be lots of fun for you and your child. Don’t stop there though. If your child chooses a particular career, how could he honor God while he is working? What ways could she point people to God? Would it be possible to share his faith with co-workers or clients?
Would You Want to Room With Your Child?
We are in the middle of roommate mania in our house. Our daughter is headed to college in August and is in the process of choosing a roommate. Evidently, a lot has changed in the roommate selection process since I was in college. Student housing is no longer randomly assigned (Although I am pretty sure “social experiment” was the process at my school.). Instead the students are put through a matchmaking process so they know if potential roommates are a 100% match or merely a 50% match. Supposedly, this results in very happy roommates, who become friends for life.
The whole process made me wonder. How many of us are raising kids we would’t want to room with, much less marry? Sounds a little crazy, but hang with me. The husband who drives his wife crazy and constantly fights with her about dirty clothes making it into the clothes hamper is probably the same child who had clothes all over his bedroom floor as a child. The wife demanding constant expensive presents from her husband is the same little girl who always had to have the latest doll and all of her accessories.
Helping Your Kids Stand Strong Against Bullies and Mean Girls
Rarely a week goes by without hearing about some teen who committed suicide or a terrible act of violence because of bullying. Bullying isn’t new. In fact, I would imagine everyone reading this was teased or bullied to the point of tears at some point in their life.
Parents have struggled for years to find ways to help their children deal with the inevitable feelings of sadness, fear or worry that often result from the behavior of bullies. You probably heard “They are just jealous.”, “Ignore her” or “Stand up to him” from your own parents.
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