What Are Your Children Learning?
First Morning Excitement
It can be a super exciting time of year when the kids go back to school after summer break: first-year students squirming under a combination of anticipation and unease; high-schoolers walk with confidence across the campus to their new home room; middle-school kids play ball while waiting for the bell, then race each other to the best seats in the classroom; and parents, especially moms, watch with a note of nostaligia mixed with committment. The goal is to see the child have the best opportunities in life.
Back-to-School time is one of life’s cycles. The cycle is a pattern many families follow for years, from the time their child is first able to attend school to their day of graduation.
While preparing for the new school year, getting supplies and clothes in order, with the goal of making school-day mornings more peaceful, we, as the proud parents, can tend to get lost in the weeds of the process. It isn’t sin to get caught up, but it is important to remember God in the midst of all we do. We have a loving Creator who watches us in all the busyness and excitement, wanting to see us make the best choices for our children.
Principled Parenting
As parents, we have been entrusted by God to be faithful stewards as principled parents of our precious children’s souls. Ultimately, our children belong to God. He created the child in his mother’s womb, then became the savior of those who choose his ways. His painful death on the cross was endured for a reason: Jesus looked forward with joy to your child having access into his pure, sweet, holy presence.
Children have parents for many reasons. Possibly the most important is to protect from harm. Children have not lived long enough, nor experienced enough of life, to be able to make decisions well, especially life-changing decisions. This is why God instructs parents in his Word to “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” ~ Proverbs 22:6
Practical Parenting
God knows parents don’t have all the answers, so he gives us practical parenting instructions on how to raise our children. We find those guidelines in his Word, the Holy Bible. It takes a strong, wise, humble man or woman to admit they need help when it comes to raising their children. However, acknowledging that need isn’t all it takes to be a good parent. It requires having a teachable heart, one that is willing to be led by another who is wiser than them.
If you find within yourself any kind of hesitation when you think of leaning on God, trying to raise your children the way he wants you to, prayer is your first answer. God understands you better than you understand your own self. He already knows WHY you struggle with letting him hold the reins for parenting your child. God alone knows your every thought, motive, fear, and intention. He is a kind, merciful, and gracious Father. He wants to help you, if only you will ask him.
Palatable Parenting
Something I learned while raising my children was that they wanted to know about the things that interested me. Haven’t you noticed very yount children copying their mom on the phone, dad reading a book, or a minister preaching a sermon?
I took my cue from this in my desire to see my children make heaven their eternal home. I read the Word of God because I love it; it holds the Words of Eternal life. The natural outflow of my love for God, his Word, and for my children, was reading my Bible to my children from infancy. Of course they didn’t understand. I was savvy enough to know their limitations for listening and absorbing. However, they saw my interest. They heard me talk about God and the things I had read about in his Word. They saw my interest in spiritual things in action, every day of my life.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
~ Proverbs 22:6
I made it as easy for my children as I could to enjoy Bible reading time. I read to them at times that worked more easily into our daily lives. For instance, since their mouths were full of food while eating breakfast, making talking less of an option, reading a few verses from the Bible to them had few interruptions. Bedtime routines included reading a good book together, simple prayer time, and snuggles combined with chats while tucking each child in. And, as expected, one last drink of water and final bathroom trip! The “caboose” on the end of the evening routine “train” was reading the Bible to all my children from a central place outside the open doors of their bedrooms.
What a wonderful, peaceful way for my children to fall asleep! Listening to the sound of God’s Word being read by the momma who loved them. No wonder bad dreams were rare in our home!
I hope this inspires you with hope and a renewed sense of your responsibility to ensure your child is being raised to know and love God and his Word. Our world is so mixed up, schools are teaching unthinkable things to the youngest of students, and the peer pressure in the schools is intense for a child. Our children need us, their parents, to be the godly, loving, understanding, and yet firm leaders of the home that God has called us to be!
