Parenting 101

Our children's minds are like sponges - soaking up everything they learn through seeing, hearing, and experiencing.  It's amazing to watch little ones learn as they grow - learning to talk and communicate - learning to live in this world.  They only learn what they are being taught.  

What are your children being taught?  Are they learning the limits of their surroundings, what is safe and unsafe?  Are they experiencing life of a loving family and extended family who care for them and want the best for them?  Are they learning about God, Jesus, the Bible, and the church?

Sadly, many, many children in the world are not learning what they need to be learning.  They are not learning what God wants them to learn.  Instead of learning about God and His Plan for them, they are learning about the world and how the world says is the right way to live.  They're watching too much TV.  They're playing too many video games - some inappropriate for anyone, not just children.  Some are learning that in order to survive, one must steal, cheat, and that everyone is out to 'get' them in one way or another.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Learning begins at home. And the kind of learning God wants us to learn begins at home.  It begins by living out our Christian lives in front of our children. It begins by sharing God's Word with them - both by reading and by our actions.  It begins by demonstrating a servant's heart so that our children see the example of Jesus in the lives of their parents.  It begins by how we treat one another and respond to one another.

So many problems in the world would be alleviated if we all just took these two simple, yet profound, verses to heart - and lived them out in our lives and in the lives of our children.  Imagine a world where these verses were taught in the home daily!  Imagine the difference it would make in our schools, in our communities, and in our world.

It starts with YOU, and it starts with ME.  We must be the ones to start thinking and living and learning how God wants us to - and not in the way the world says is right.  He has the plan.  We just have to follow it!