What's A Parent To Do?

20 Jun 2000 - What's A Parent To Do?
The preacher is still preaching on the family. Calvin and I were talking about the sermon yesterday while we were going to his parents for Father’s Day. We agree that we are enjoying the sermons and that we think it is needed. If people with good marriages don’t stop and teach younger people we can’t expect things to get better. With divorce and unhappy marriages being so prevalent, I would think a young person could grow up never having seen a good marriage up close.
This week the preacher was focusing on parenting. It, like the other sermons, was based on Ephesians 6:1-4. And he focused on “Fathers provoke not your children to wrath…” He gave 3 steps.
#1 Parents should encourage their children.
#2 Parents should discipline their children. a. Begin Early b. Think of spanking as a last resort c. Don’t lie about discipline (if you tell a child they will get a spanking for something do it) d. Administer it promptly e. Parents present a united front f. Discipline in love g. Never withhold love as a form of punishment h. Discipline with repentance as the goal i. When you do spank do a good job j. A child needs to realize that when they disobey a parent they are disobeying God
#3 Parents should teach their children.
I have a bumper sticker on my van. It says, “Every home is a school. What do you teach?” That goes along with that last point.