Mark Delaney "Parenting" | July 2016

Mark Delaney Bible Teacher at Lincoln Christian School "Parenting" Is there a more important thing in life than the position of leadership in the home of a father? Keep Jesus in the home, keep your family in church. Take them to God's house. Kids put pressure on themselves. They believe they have to be great at something or anything right now. Not true! Parenting is like a farmer: Kids ages birth-12: "Preparing the ground" 1. Respect 2. Telling the truth 3. Don't steal YOU MUST TEACH KIDS THESE VALUES AT THESE AGES! It's near to impossible to begin to teach respect to a 14 yr. old. If you have one of these two things wrong in your life, you have one foot in hell: Do you lie? Do you steal? Discipline is a process; not an event. Kids ages 13-18: "Seed time" 1. Spread the seed. a) Don't put all the seeds in one part of the field. b) Families should not be chasing kids; have kids chase the family. 2. Empowering your kids; boundaries are relaxed a bit. Adulthood: "Harvest" Only three things really matter: 1. Will they know how to follow God? 2. Will they know how to follow love? 3. Will they be a kind of leader that raises Godly children? As a parent I should have those as my ultimate goals. All my decisions should reflect these goals. Activities and busy-work will not fulfill the ultimate purpose and responsibility we have as parents. Instead ask yourself: How is this activity preparing them for their future? Give your kids purpose. The purpose of parenting is not to see how much we can bless our kids. Don't be a guilt-driven parent. Our job is to teach them purpose and responsibility.