Parenting Young Children: Monkey See, Monkey Do

 

Day 1 - Deut 6: 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Look for one teachable moment today. Look for an action or activity that can teach a life lesson and point it out in conversation that is less than a 3-minute. Start with a short point you can refer back to.

Deuteronomy 11:19

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Day 2 - De 4:9 Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

 

Your kids are watching you. Do they see you living out your faith? Today find an activity in their life and take time to pray with them about it. Set the example by asking them to pray with you about something in your life.

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Day 3 - Eph 6:4* Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Do not simply demand right behavior… decide the values you want your children to have and begin to look for them in their activities and then praise them. Today set your kids up to succeed in something and then praise them for it. Make sure it is a value like “Telling the truth”, “Loving others” or “Sharing with people in need”.

Colossians 3:20-24

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Day 4 - Pr 22:6* Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

 

Today pick a life goal or pattern you want to reinforce and begin to speak it into existence in your child. For example I would tell Cameron over and over “One of the things that makes me proud to be your dad is that you always tell the truth”. It is a value I wanted in his life to I spoke it into him all his life.

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Day 5 - Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (2) “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), (3) “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (4) Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

 

Practice “forgive and forget” make a point to reinforce Gods forgiveness and the ability to be free from our past. After a punishment like a timeout for an offence take a moment to pray with your child and allow them to ask for forgiveness then make a big deal about this will never be spoken of again, it is no longer a mark against them. God has forgotten it, and you will never mention is again either. Knowing I am forgiven and my sin is in the past is a gift we need to make sure our kids receive.

 

Do the same with the concept of grace. When there is an offense which should deserve a punishment share with your child that you know their action is not a true reflection of who they are. Explain that “grace” is when God gives us what we do not deserve because of his love and that sometimes he shows his belief and trust in us by giving us grace rather than what our actions deserve to show his belief and trust that we will change because of our love for him and not just fear of being punished.

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Teaching Bible Concepts:

Grace – Not Getting what you deserve

Joh 1:16* From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

There is Sin AND It can be forgiven

1Jo 1:9* If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Forgive and Forget

Isa 43:25* "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Ps 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Obedience brings blessings

Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (2) “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), (3) “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Pray about everything

Eph 6:18* Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Php 4:6* Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.