2.22.2011

Wisdom: What is your best advice for raising your children?

Here we go, Question #1 was: What is your best advice for raising your children? (see previous post "Wisdom: The Panel" for information about the initials listed)
-CC: Don't take everything so serious - dinner will get made,  the laundry will get done, your house will get cleaned (maybe).  If you worry to much about these things than you will totally miss out on enjoying and getting to know your kids.  I should have put the windex down sooner!!  You can never get this time back!
-DW: Be consistent, mean what you say & follow through…don’t keep giving idle threats;  & realize the difference between childish irresponsibility and direct disobedience and respond accordingly
-JS: Don't take everything so seriously.  Women have been raising children for millions of years.  LOVE them first...the rest will come.
-SS: (my best advise for raising kids and a healthy marriage is walk closely with Jesus. That will positively affect you parenting and your marriage.
-BF: Must seek the Lord for the right answers.  Even when my kids didn't  agree w/ me, my girls ALWAYS knew I loved them more than life!  I reminded them that I was doing my very best and that they were my priority. They could always choose to do it differently when they were a Mother.
-MH: they are people; talk WITH them; LISTEN to them
-BM: Ask them questions and listen to their answers.
-CB:  Laugh as much as you can.  Even on stressful days try to find time to laugh with them.
-AA: Besides many hours of prayer…To enjoy the  moment- every stage and age gets better, but also  flies by… unless you stop and savor the moments…even the “messy” ones.
-HJ: As parents we are the primary FOUNDATION builders of our children's lives and we are living in a world where the main goal of the enemy is to destroy those foundations.  One of the ways we foundation build is by keeping our kid close and making sure we have lots of TIME with them to teach and train them, build great relationships with them, and of course have FUN! If he can steal our time, he can distract us and throw us off the job we've been given by the Lord.  He wins...we lose.
Psalm 11:2-3 "The wicked bend their bows that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.  If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
So, I guess my best parenting advice (to myself first and foremost!) in these crazy days we are living in is I need to be seeking the Lord like never before every day and filling myself with His TRUTH that's found in the Bible so that when those arrows fly (distractions/lies of the enemy/lies of the culture/world/media) I will be able to identify them and extinguish them (with God's truth) right away! Questions I ask myself all the time are "What things can go(or totally need to go)?  Are we too busy?  Is that activity or commitment truly beneficial or simply a distraction? Are we being media-centered instead of relationship-centered?  Is my time with the Lord my top priority? Am I feeding on God's truth or cultural junk? As we determine to seek the Lord we can know that even in these super crazy days He promises to "show us great and marvelous things we wouldn't know on our own" - Jeremiah 33:3.  As a mom trying to raise my precious children in wild times that gives me peace and stokes my fire to keep focused on foundation building!  I can be sure that when I don't know what to do or how to handle a particular situation with them, I'm not alone and He will give me great ideas and strategies that are perfect for each of my kiddos individually!
-JM: Be consistent, if you train at home you wont have to train as much in public- do not tolerate things at home that you do not want to happen in public- I try to focus my discipline on the "heart" issues more than the "image" issues.

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