Train Up A Child.......Part 2

Last week we started talking about the responsibility of parents to train (teach, instruct, & discipline) their children regarding morals, integrity, right/wrong, and most importantly about what it means to live for and serve God. I said I would give some simple ideas to help you effectively train your children. So I'll focus on birth to 12 years old today.

1. Training starts at birth: Your children are born without habits. So everything they learn starts with you. As a parent, grandparent, or caregiver consider your habits. Whatever behaviors or attitudes you model in front of a child, good or bad, will become the norm for them.
2. Discipline must be intentional: With both my kids, there was a time between age 1 & 2 where we began instituting intentional discipline. It was around the time when the kids started walking and could touch everything. There comes a moment, and you will know when this is, when you your child reaches for the T.V. power button and you say "no", they look at you and inch closer and touch it anyway. You just reached the discipline moment. Why do we start young? Is it easier to teach a child the meaning of the word no when they have no habits, or at age 7 when they've already learned that your "no" doesn't really mean no? The question people often battle over is "to spank or not to spank." Notice I didn't say "beat", there is a big difference. We've always used a combination of verbal warning, spanking, & time outs. Use what works, be fair, be consistent, and follow through with your communicated discipline plan. Discipline won't happen by accident.
3. Gratitude & Respect: It's so important for children to learn to be grateful and respectful at an early age. With regard to gratitude the simple things make a huge difference. Teach your child to say thank you and please. Most of our teaching here is wrong. We tell kids to say it, but we don't explain why. So what we end up teaching them is say these words and you'll get what you want. Gratitude is more than thank you and please. Tell them why they say thank you; explain that they are blessed. Respect is another key area of training. I was in a setting recently where a child under the age of 5 was allowed to speak completely disrespectfully to an adult. I could not believe the way the child acted. Tricia and I have always trained our children to be respectful to us, each other, other children, and to adults. If we are in their presence and they act disrespectfully toward someone, we take immediate action to appropriately correct the behavior. Disrespect is unacceptable at any age. And if we don't teach that early, it only get harder later on in the teenage years.

These are just 3 very practical but very important steps you can take with your younger child. When Tricia and I brought Jonathan home for the first time we looked back at back at him in the back seat and said to each other, "I can't believe they are letting us take him home. Don't they know we don't have a clue what we are doing? Where's the manual?" Well there isn't a manual, but there are some great resources available. Check the local Christian bookstore for more resources to improve your parenting skills.

Next week I will give you some practical advice about how to train up your teenage students.

Have a GREAT week!!!