Parental Guidance

My mom, Alyssa, and I went to see the movie Parental Guidance.  It was a rather cheesy movie with a few good laughs but it made some very good points concerning child raising!

This couple was raising their children the way I see a lot of children being raised today.  They won't say the word "no" or "don't " to their children. They have to explain thoroughly to the children their reasons for everything.  There is never any physical discipline or consequences for their actions.  It makes parenting SO difficult!

A friend of mine told me her children aren't spanking their children because they feel the spankings they received as children didn't work.  I asked Alyssa if she remembers being spanked since we rarely spanked our children after the age of five.

She said she remembered a few but knew she deserved them.  She witnesses so many parents today that have children that are so misbehaved because they won't discipline them.  Parents are so concerned about their "fragile self-esteem" that they are ruining their children.

The best child rearing book out there in my opinion is To Train Up A Child.  Ken and I read it a few years ago and decided we raised our children the same way the Pearls raised theirs.  Our children knew the boundaries very well but also knew they were very loved.

This movie has the grandparents come and watch the children for a week.  They set some boundaries and decry the foolishness of baseball games where no score is kept and every one gets to bat until they get on base.  The "everything has to be fair" mentality.

At the end of the movie, the grandchildren love their grandparents and appreciate them.  Children desperately need discipline and self-control.  Their self-esteem will come from that, not thinking everything needs to be fair and no one can ever say "no" to them.  Life is NOT fair and they will have a lot of people say "no" to them.

Prepare them for the real world!  Their ultimate self-esteem, however, is in knowing who they are in Christ.  They are chosen, precious, redeemed, forgiven, and loved by the Creator of the universe.  NOTHING is more important than knowing this tremendous truth. 

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, 
but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness 
to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11

Titus 2sday