Friday, February 22, 2008

Discipline Mistakes Most Parents Make

mother and child
Shared by Sue of Half the Kingdom

Do you find yourself threatening, repeating your instructions, or raising your voice in an attempt to get your children to obey? Are you frustrated because nothing seems to work? It could be that faulty child-training methods have snared your line of thinking.

A quick bribe or mild threat looks appealing to a parent’s appetite for gaining control of a child, especially in a hurried situation. So, we take the bait -- hook, line, and sinker. It’s not until later that we realize we’re caught in a tangled net of ineffective parenting.

We must remember that our goal is not merely to get children to outwardly obey, but to reach their hearts with the gospel of Christ. When we adopt faulty child-training methods that aim for behavior modification only, we miss the issues of the heart and the point of biblical discipline. Here are a few pitfalls that we must guard against:


Article

3 comments:

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

Interesting.

Easter Almuena said...

"Children should be taught to obey because it is right and because it pleases God, not to get a reward. The Bible says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord” (Colossians 3:20)."

What a wonderful post, Esther! I went on to read and I just love these words. Joe and I have been blessed to have bible studies in our home in CA when Cy and CT were still babies. A Catholic lady and our mentor came to our home and fed us with the word of God. "Listen and Obey", these are the core teachings of Christ that our family live by. Esther, this is a truly beautiful thing! I have never experienced my children yell or raise their voice on me because of this biblical truth. And Joe and I have to listen to and obey God's voice; and we understand too that we are answerable to Him, he who entrusted to us 5 wonderful kids of His! Amen!

OH Esther I could go on... so, so beautiful! Thank you!

EC Gefroh said...

WS: Glad you thought so.

Easter, that is beautiful the way you and Joe have raised your wonderful children. My parenting skills sometimes need a little fine tuning but with God's help and the support of my DH, I persevere.