Socrates said, "If I could get to the highest place in Athens, I would lift up my voice and say: 'What mean ye, fellow citizens that ye turn every stone to scrape wealth together, and take so little care of your children, to whom ye must one day relinquish all?'" In the study of anthropology, few, if any, cultures have been observed in which parents are not expected to provide guidance to their children.
For some people, that kind of guidance seems to come naturally. For others, though, it takes a lot of practice - and usually a lot of trial and error. Where do the two of you fit on the continuum? What kind of teachers are you where your children are concerned?
Here's a more sobering question: What if your children turn out to be just like you? Would you be concerned? If so, what steps do you need to take? What do you need to change in your parenting? Why not begin that change today?
God is available to help. He has loaded His Word with principles to guild you. He's also surrounded you with friends, family, and fellow believers to assist you.
Tak time to pray and identify areas of your life in which you've failed to reach your potential. Confess any wrong attitudes or actions that have caused you to fail. Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom and courage to change those areas so that you may be a role model to your children.
Discuss and reflect on these questions:
Who do you look to as parenting role models - or simply as good parents?
How is your parenting style similar to theirs? How is it different?
How do the two of you complement each other as parents? In what areas are you both lacking?
Consider these passages for further study on parenting:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Proverbs 1:8-9 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
9 They are a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.
Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”[a]
4 Fathers,[b] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Psalm 124:1-8 If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Great devotional to evaluate of Gary Chapman.
Looking for examples of other great families and what they do to create valuable relationships helps understand actions to apply. Share what has helped you.