Why Are Children Disobedient?

Many parents and teachers will tell you that children these days are disobedient. Why is that so? Because they are learning it from us. Too often we know exactly what we should do in a situation and yet we don’t do it. Even as I wrote those words, God convicted me. I knew I was guilty of doing exactly that. Yesterday I thought about calling someone to see how they were but didn’t because I wanted to do all the things I had to do, so I could finish reading the latest Jodi Picoult book. So this time when I … Continue reading →

It’s Up to Parents to Act

Pick up any newspaper and you will see evidence of crime, violence, rape, murder, brutality, theft, drug and alcohol abuse, road rage, the list goes on. Given today’s world and the way society is headed, it has never been more important that parents take their parental responsibility seriously. Too often parenting is being left to others rather than the child parents or is simply abdicated all together because it is easier to let children get away with misbehavior than to correct it. It may be in the short term. It is not in the long term and sadly our society … Continue reading →

The Choice for Parents

In the forums Amand44 and several others,expressed anger and disappointment at the lack of supervision that sees children roaming the streets. The same thing happens here in Australia. Some parents have forgotten that parenting is an active choice. Parents need to do more than just breed children and then let them do as they like. They need to parent their children and not be afraid of using discipline and corrective measures. Mostly what I believe children today need is time invested in them. Too often Mom and Dad are at work. Children come home to empty houses or are left … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Child from Mistakes

You can’t always protect your children from mistakes. Sometimes you’ve got to let them go, trusting God to uphold and undertake for them. It’s not easy. I know. Letting go is something I struggle with, but I’ve had to learn to do it. You have to trust that you have brought them up so that ultimately they will make the right choices and not make decisions that will endanger their lives. It might mean making choices we won’t agree with, like dating a non Christian or them becoming involved in activities we would rather they did not or that we … Continue reading →

What About Santa?

On Saturday we had sirens blaring as fire truck and police trundled down our street. No, not a disaster, it was Santa in the fire truck waving and throwing out sweets to the neighborhood children that flocked out to greet him. It happens every year in our neighborhood. What place does Santa have in the Christian’s Christmas? Does he have a place at all? In a recent newsletter about writing for children I saw an article about Britain and the new range of comics called Christmas Crackers. These comics feature Santa and snowmen integrated into the Nativity story. These were … Continue reading →

The Effect of Parents on Parenting

In the forum we’ve been discussing the effect our parents have on us and the way we raise our children. It makes interesting reading. The other day I finished reading ‘A Boy in Winter; by Maxine Chernoff. This book raises more questions than it answers. In it, a child accidentally shoots another child with a bow and kills him. It ends up telling the story through the eyes of Danny, the boy who did the shooting, Nancy his mother and Frank the father of the boy who had been shot and also Nancy’s lover. In the course of the story … Continue reading →

Grandparents, Are You Being Fair? – Part 2

Yesterday we looked at how grandparents are unfair to their own offspring by abdicating any responsibility for the welfare, behavior and building of character of grandchildren by spoiling them and allowing them to do as they please. But there is another way that grandparents can be unfair. That is favoritism. Favoritism can create extremely difficult situations. We see in the Bible of the problems that occur in families. Look at the problems that occurred because Rebekah favored Jacob and Isaac favored Esau, Genesis 25:28. It resulted in deceit, a family split apart, and hate and lack of forgiveness that continued … Continue reading →

Grandparents, Are You Being Fair?

Grandparents are you being fair to your children and your grandchildren? Too often I hear grandparents say they enjoy having grandchildren because ‘I can spoil them rotten and then hand them back to their parents.’ I’m appalled whenever I hear grandparents make such comments. When my Mom was alive no-one could have loved her grandson more but she never spoilt him. She treated him the same way she treated me growing up –by showing lots of love but not spoiling him and buying things all the time and certainly not by letting him misbehave or run rampant. If he was … Continue reading →

Dealing With Grief

Recently I overheard two women in the supermarket car park talking about the death of someone they knew. One said, ‘It happened so suddenly and that’s always harder to cope with.’ ‘Such a shock to the family. No one was prepared,’ the other woman agreed. Is it harder to cope with? I’d dispute that. Are we ever prepared for death? I thought about my own experience with the death of my parents. Yes, Dad’s death left us in shock. It also left me feeling guilty. I was the only home with him when it happened and I used to think … Continue reading →

Why I’m Happy to Submit to My Husband

Feminism might throw up its collective hands in horror at the word submission, but I’m happy to submit to my husband. Why? Because it is what the Bible commands Ephesians 5:22. And no, I don’t believe Paul was a male chauvinist who didn’t appreciate women and their ministry. Paul valued the contribution made by Phoebe, Romans 16:1-2, Priscilla along with her husband Aquila, Romans 16:3-5, and I Corinthians 16:19, Mary, Romans 16: 6 , Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis, Romans 16:12, and others he mentions throughout his letters. Although Paul wrote the words in Ephesians 5:22, they are inspired by the … Continue reading →