Written, Designed, and Edited by: Carole C. Good
Positively Good Productions
"Making a Positively Good difference"
God has provided us with His Word.
Basic traditional roles of being a parent are:
to nurture and educate children,
discipline them, manage the home
and financially support family.
May we nurture our children through the creative teaching
of God's Word.
God's Word is our Instruction Manual
and a Road Map for life.
God's Word guides us through the pitfalls and plateaus,
the peaks and valleys, the highs and lows,
and the ebb and flow of raising children.
We should not wait to begin teaching our children
about God. We should teach them when they are very
young that God loves them,
He created them,
and He has a plan for their lives.
May we begin teaching our children to love God
from the very moment of their birth.
What we build on the inside of our children
is far more important
than what we can adorn them with on the outside.
RED & Yellow
Black & White
Children are a heritage from God.
God gives children, not as a penalty nor as a burden,
but as a kindness.
May we help our children see the difference between
knowing about Jesus and actually following Jesus.
May we pour instruction and discipline
into our children
so that they mature into men and women
after God's heart.
God has given parents a sacred duty to teach our children.
Parents have the responsibility of instilling
Biblical truth into our children’s belief system.
This responsibility must not be taken lightly.
It is essential for parents to teach their children
rather than leave this responsibility to the church or others.
We must not allow the school, community, television,
or even Church organizations
to establish our children’s values.
Others may help, but parents remain
accountable to God!
Spiritual instruction stands
as one of the most important aspects to parenting.
God has granted us the awesome privilege
and responsibility of laying a strong Spiritual foundation
in our children's lives.
We have been entrusted with souls of great value.
Our characteristics, personalities, outlook, and attitude
shape their lives.
It is going to take deliberate effort and consistent focus.
When the presence of God is evident in our lives
our children seem to gravitate in the same direction.
Our responsibility as adults is to lead children
in the right direction.
Our little ones need our love and leadership.
We teach our children
in two general ways:
Through our example and through our words.
Parents are responsible to teach children through example
and instruction.
Our examples add meaning to our words.
When parents seek direction from God,
He will guide us in our efforts to teach our children.
We must be diligent and consistent in our efforts to teach
through our example and our words.
Through our example,
children learn trust, sacrifice, service,
patience, loyalty, forgiveness,
unselfishness, dependence, commitment,
sharing, prayer, and love.
We should seek Divine inspiration
in all our efforts to teach.
Let us expect God to reveal things from His heart to ours.
Let us listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit for revelations
and teach our children
according to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Trust... the Holy Spirit will carry the message
to the hearts of our children.
Parenting is a journey that never ends.
Our impact as parents and spiritual shapers
is very powerful.
Parents are to be examples to their children.
once we have children,
we are parents for life!
If we shirk that responsibility
our children will be a burden to us and society.
Just as we plan and act precisely when seeking to
accomplish goals in other spheres of life,
we must prepare ourselves and act intentionally if we want
to truly raise our children to be upright.
Let us strive to raise well-rounded, productive children
who have a reverent fear of God,
obey God's commandments,
and who can function as righteously productive,
upright citizens in our society.
If we view children as a trust from God
we will put our full effort into their training and guiding.
Our children need to know God. They need to know the
truth of God's Word. They need to experience a personal
relationship with God,
and be equipped and aligned to follow and serve God
throughout their lives.
Parents should be striving for the same thing...
to point our children toward God.
Children are highly intelligent beings
and are very important to God.
Because of children's genuine humility and innocence...
Jesus used the little children as an example
to teach us about faith, greatness, humility, and God's love.
He encouraged us to welcome children as if we were
welcoming Him.
He called a little child to Him,
and placed the child among them.
And he said:
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become
like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever welcomes one such child in My Name
welcomes Me.
— Matthew 18:1-5
Are we helping our children to know God?
Are we helping our children build and maintain an
enduring and close relationship with God?
What a joyous and pivotal opportunity
parents have been afforded!
One of the first things we need to do in helping our
children build a relationship with God is to begin talking
about God when they first begin to comprehend.
As they mature, we can turn to Proverbs. The entire
Book of Proverbs explains God’s instructions
on how to live!
As parents... we should make it our business to embrace
the opportunity to echo to our children God's divine
and valuable Word. This should be a natural part of our
conversation, born from our inmost and steadfast
relationship with God.
On Children
by Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go
swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Children are not our own... they are a sacred trust...
a gift from God to parents.
As parents we are the caretakers of our offspring.
God has entrusted children to us
for the shaping and molding of our children's hearts,
minds, and character.
Children inherit the genes of their parents and are, in a
sense, a reproduction of the parents; yet, they are separate
from the mother and the father.
The most powerful role models for children
are the parents.
As parents, self-improvement
should be on our minds continuously.
Not only does it set the example
for our childrens lives, as observers,
but it helps us to improve ourselves.
We should try new experiences and broaden our horizons.
This teaches our children to never stop growing as
human beings. There is always something new we can
learn in this life.
As parents and humans...
it is important to remember that we are being observed.
It is much like being on stage 24-7,
as many eyes will be upon parents. Not only will we be a
role model for our children, but for the public, as a whole.
For our neighbor who is having a difficult time as a
parent, we are their role model. For the expectant mother,
for our child’s friend, we are role models. We are even
role models for future generations.
Our actions today might show other parents, and other
children, how to act, how to behave, how to be
compassionate, and how to be kind.
People are watching and learning from us!
We need to take our role of being
a good parent more seriously.
We need to embrace the possibility that we might be
the only positive role model
our children and other children might ever see.
We should allow our children to see how we interact
with others and how we carry ourselves. They can see
that it is essential to practice self-control at all times.
As parents, it is essential for us to be good
listeners. The best leaders listen carefully
and talk far less. As we open our minds and ears to what
our children are telling us... they will, in turn,
learn to do likewise.
Our children mirror what we model to them.
The single most important aspect of being your children’s
role model is to always walk the talk.
Actions speak volumes.
“Well done is better than well said.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Parents need to be good stable role models for their
children if they want their children to stay on the straight
and narrow.
There are both privileges and responsibilities
resulting from this gift.
Training children involves three things:
positive instruction, example, and discipline.
Parents... it is our job to raise happy, healthy,
well adjusted children.
To train children in godliness.
Proverbs 23:13-14 tells us to
"Withhold not correction from the child."
He who withholds his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
Proverbs 13:24
SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE CHILD
The phrase “Spare the rod, spoil the child” comes from
Proverbs 13:24,
“He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves
him is careful to discipline him.”
God uses discipline to reveal our sin to us.
The saying means that failing to exert authority over a
child is bad for the child's development.
The rod of correction/guidance has long been used as a
symbol of authority.
It is good for parents to set rules, boundaries, and
consequences for children.
Spare the rod of guidance; spoil the child speaks of the
negative consequences of withholding punishment.
But according to the book of Proverbs
there are many positive benefits of correctly applying the
rod of correction/guidance to the seat of the problem.
Proverbs 3:12 says,
“Whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father
But what does this really mean?
Withhold not correction from the child.
Children feel safe when there is continuity and consistency
in daily routines,
and especially when there is a loving atmosphere.
Parents need to stay strong.
Having the discernment and wisdom to help children
through childhood and the teen years does not come easy.
It is a major test for parents; however, children need this.
They need to know the security of boundaries and the
consequences of improper actions.
Parents who don't discipline or set any guidelines for their
children
are likely to produce ill-mannered, whiny, selfish, arrogant,
rude, defiant, and spoiled children.
Parents are not to withhold discipline from a child;
if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.
Punish them with the rod and save them from death.
Proverbs 23:13-14
"This language was designed to motivate overly
permissive parents,
who are afraid of damaging young children with any kind
of discipline,
or of making rules and enforcing them.
There is no call here for abuse.
Loving discipline does not destroy rebellious children;
it does them a big favor."
The rod and reproof gives wisdom:
but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.
Proverbs 29:15
Jesus was gentle with children.
He is a Shepherd to the sheep.
The shepherd uses His rod to guide the sheep,
not to beat them!
We should try to keep our children's hearts
and keep them on the right path by praying for God
to convict and protect them.
He is the GREAT Shepherd
and He will work in their lives
in a much more effective manner than we can.
If He chooses to allow some kind of circumstance or
situation in their life,
to keep them in the fold, then so be it!
He is much stronger than human parents.
***The word “Rod” in Proverbs
is the Hebrew word shabat.
Shabat was used to describe the rod a shepherd used
to guide, control, protect and tend their sheep.
The rod was used to gently poke and press the animals
into line and for keeping them out of
dangerous situations.
The shepherd would throw the rod gently
at a sheep to get its attention
or warn it not to do something.
The shepherds would use rods this way
as a tool of discipline.
They did not throw it to hurt the sheep,
just to startle them into compliance.
The shepherd would also throw the rod at a predator
to scare it away from the flock,
or club aggressive animals or snakes with it.
They would throw the rod hard at dangerous creatures,
aiming to wound or kill them rather than just to alert them.
The shepherd rarely used the rod to “beat” a lamb;
instead, he firmly struck their hindquarters
to get them to go in the right direction.
The sheep came to fear the rod
without fearing the shepherd.
If a lamb wandered off beyond his reach, the shepherd
tossed the stick in front of the lamb,
and it would send the lamb scurrying back into the flock.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
Proverbs 22:15
Our children are like sheep much of the time, clueless.
They can be easily led astray, prone to wander into danger
and in desperate need of protection and direction.
If we don’t shape our kids, they will be shaped by outside
forces that don’t care what shape our kids are in.
When parents are alienated from God,
the results in the lives of their children are,
of course, catastrophic.
Children need to be prodded from time to time
to stay on course.
We have to protect our children, to warn them
by telling what is safe to do and what isn’t,
before they venture out on their own.
Discipline in its simplest form is to teach a child
how to learn self control,
to recognize what are acceptable limits,
to know the boundaries of where to stop.
Children will test the boundaries we set for them,
often deliberately misbehaving just to learn
what our reaction will be.
They will also act obediently and then look to us
for support and praise.
From the time they are very young,
we should train them to be obedient and expect
disciplinary consequences for disobedience.
Those who love well, will discipline well.
And when children know better...
they will do better.
To learn these things,
a child does not need to be put down.
Discipline is not to tear them down,
but to assist in helping them mature.
Discipline is a major part of overall child development.
Discipline takes a firm, consistent hand
in each child's life.
Parents cannot, however, do a half-hearted job
or hope that the problems like:
disrespect, obnoxious behavior, disobedience, greed,
insensitivity to others, dishonesty, anger,
temper tantrums, and abuse toward a parent
will just go away...
they won't!
Discipline is a necessity.
A shepherd has a rod he uses to keep his sheep in line.
In like manner, sometimes God has to use harsh methods
to teach us valuable lessons,
otherwise we wouldn’t progress or mature in the faith.
This should be greatly encouraging to us for it means that
God cares enough to watch over us
and push us in the right direction.
It’s the same as a parent who punishes a child,
not out of some sadistic desire,
but because he/she loves the child
and wants what’s best for their child.
God instructs parents to use a “rod”
for an important reason.
The rod of guidance is a neutral object.
It’s much better to use a switch or a small stick
to punish your child than to use your hand.
You should only use your hand to caress
and to soothe your child–
you don’t want your children growing up in fear
of your hand.
It’s tempting for parents to spontaneously
slap their misbehaving child on the leg,
but that’s a bad habit to begin.
It’s never appropriate
for a parent to use their fists or hands
to beat their children–
that is...
child abuse!
Abuse is never acceptable,
even if a child was being out of order.
Parental love disciplines and corrects,
but never abuses.
A Good role model is someone whose
hindsight and insight can become foresight.
