Category: Character Training

Ever take a small child with his birthday cash to a dollar store? Either the child goes crazy and piles more in the basket than he can afford or he takes an agonizingly long time to pick out the one perfect item. Silently, you are wondering how this child will ever pick the right college or spouse with his current decision making skills.

As our children mature, we tend to forget our concerns. Most of the time our children make pretty good decisions and once in a while they will make a really poor one. Either way, we let them work through it with little formal instruction on the steps for making a good decision.

Maybe you struggle with decision making yourself. If you are like me, the popular pro/con list rarely works. Either we are so swayed, we can only see one side or we are so analytical, both sides come out evenly. Praying helps, but God rarely places a billboard on our street with specific point by point plans for us.

Continue reading Teaching Kids to Make Smart Decisions

Want to hear something really scary? Observers have noticed something about most public justice systems around the world. The average police force operates on a 15-70-15 rule. Fifteen percent of the force is considered incorruptible. They have high moral standards. It doesn’t matter what bribes or threats others may make, these people in the moral fifteen percent will stay true to their moral standards.

The other fifteen percent is equally true to their standards. Unfortunately, their standards are the lowest – they are actively seeking bribes and other dishonest ways to increase their power and income. It doesn’t matter what rules or punishments the force has in place, this fifteen percent will remain corrupt.

And what about the remaining seventy percent? This is what I find the most upsetting. The other seventy percent is easily swayed. If they are placed with the ethical fifteen percent, they will generally react in ethical ways. If they are placed with the unethical fifteen percent, they too will begin looking for bribes and acting in unethical ways.

Continue reading Are You Raising Kids Who Are Easily Swayed?

Have you ever watched a child almost dart in front of a car? Anyone and everyone will move heaven and earth to intervene and save the child’s life. No one stops to worry about who is watching the child or what the reaction will be after intervening. All anyone cares about is the immediate intervention needed to save the child from being hit by a car.

In reality, many children in our world are in need of intervention. Not just from abuse, neglect and starvation (although millions need that too). The children of the world need us to intervene so they will not become attached to Satan. Even in our churches most of our children will eventually leave God. Yet, we feel little need to intervene in some way. We assume children will pick up “God” by some sort of osmosis. Even the Church itself often provides parents with little more support than classes once or twice a week and an occasional fun activity.

Continue reading Early Intervention in Christian Parenting