SISTERS AS PARENTS:
The greatest honor to a parent is to have the opportunity to raise children in the love and the fear of God. As such, this requires the parents to be mature, disciplined, knowledgeable and givers of love.
It is a huge undertaking but also with huge rewards. It is our duty and privilege to care for them and to mould the characters of our children to live life giving glory to God in loving obedience.
How do we do this?
1. By providing a stable relationship between mother and father, (Proverbs 1:8)
2. By combining loving but firm discipline/obedience, (Proverbs 29:15) (Ephesians 6:4)
3. By living a disciplined life ourselves,
4. Daily teaching them the principles God has taught us in the scriptures, often using the Bible stories to illustrate those lessons,
5. Making talk of Godly things part of everyday conversation,
6. Be knowledgeable of the scriptures so you can answer their questions about it and about life,
7. Provide routine instruction,
8. Encourage association with members families and attendance at ecclesial functions,
9. Teach children that it is a Godly requirement to honor and obey their parents.
10. Raise them in kindness, with love and with respect.
Let’s look deeper into these 10 principles.
1. *It is the duty of BOTH parents to contribute to the spiritual education of the child. One may be better at explaining things related to everyday things; the other may be better at explaining the scriptures.
*Both parents make every effort to provide a stable home, to show love to each other, to have patience with each other. This is very important for children to know their home and parents will be there for them.
*when mother and father don’t agree, discuss the issue calmly, without name calling, controlling our anger, and our voices. It may be necessary to discuss issues away from the children, especially if it involves discipline.
2. Give clear instructions to the children of behaviour expected of them and the consequences of disobedience or rewards of obedience. Make those boundaries consistent. There is to be NO harsh treatment of the children, no beating. Appropriate light spanking as a last resort is a reminder to the young child what they have done can cause them hurt. Discipline should never be done by the parent in anger. Ephesians 6:4. Discipline is to benefit the child so they know not to repeat that behaviour. A child is learning and will make mistakes or have accidents. But the serious misbehaviours are things like lying, being nasty to others, using God’s name in swearing, violence or harming another, cheating, stealing. Show them love when good behaviour is shown, tell them you love them.
3. Set a good example by spending time reading your Bible, praying, talking about Godly things, being forgiving towards others, being kind to others. Ephesians 4:32-5:2
4. The nation of Israel was instructed to teach their children in their time of getting up in the morning and as they went about their activities. Mother’s especially are often with the children more than the fathers so they have much opportunity to teach their children about God and His creation. For example, if your family grows a garden, it gives an opportunity to explain God’s creation, of how a planted seed needs weeding, water and sunlight to grow and produce food. The Bible compares us to plants who need weeding (keeping out the bad thoughts and behaviour), water (putting God’s word into our minds), sunlight (the Gospel word and promises). Even a small child soon understands the comparison.
5. As above
6. As parents, be like the ecclesia at Berea who studied the scriptures daily to ensure what they were believing was from the scriptures,
7. It is important to have a set time to spend with the children around God’s word, so they can practice reading it, talking about it and asking questions. Set aside an appropriate time each day with them, before bedtime is good. When they are older, a bit of time in the morning before school starts them out with Godly things in their mind. Definitely taking time in a Sunday School class with other children of their age is time well spent. Children do better with pleasant routines, with instruction that is right for their age.
8. Encourage interaction with other members and families of your ecclesia. Members of the ecclesia are told to show hospitality to each other. When we do this, it develops relationships for our children so that they grow up feeling they have a bigger family they belong to. It is also important for children to know that adults sometimes fail to do what is right. It is wrong but we can be forgiven if we regret doing wrong and ask for forgiveness. Failure of ecclesial members does not make God’s truth wrong and we shouldn’t remove ourselves from the ecclesial because a member, in weakness, made a mistake.
9. God’s rule is that children should honor their parents. Exodus 20:12. Deuteronomy 32:46 & 47 It is important children learn this habit as it is how we should be as adults to honor God. The children of Israel were told they must learn this or they would not be able to live in their promised land. Because of their disobedience, they were taken from their land and scattered over the earth.
10. When children grow in this environment, they learn how to treat others with behaviour that God tells us, as adults, to use.
When you are with an unbelieving partner:
Since we are not all fortunate enough to live in a home with both parents believing the Truth, the situation is different and brings different challenges. The believing parents has the heavy responsibility of setting the Godly example to the children while trying not to antagonize the unbelieving partner. It is vitally important for the believing partner to teach the children to respect and love the unbelieving partner. It is also important for the believing partner to always put God first and put your trust in Him.
Children who lived in a divided home say the following 5 things are most important to grow believing the Truth: