To train a child

To train a child
 

Scripture:- Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it Proverbs 22:6

Observation:- This much quoted verse focuses on children. Do this, and this is the result you will get. Train a child well, and he will continue in the same way even when he grows up.

But what is the way a child should go? What is the way all of us must go? There are so many areas we need to train our children in what is right and what is wrong. However, as Jesus said that the entire law and the prophets are summed are in just two commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself. This is our destiny and what God wants from each one of us and this is the base of how we should live our lives and how we should teach our children to live their lives.

Application:- Love is respect. We show respect to God by praying, by reading His Word, by thanking Him, by going to Sunday School and listening to our teachers. We show respect to others by thinking on the other person’s behalf. One of the hardest things is learning to stop thinking about one’s self and one’s wants and considering the feelings and needs of others. Not taking other people’s things, thanking others who give you things, sharing with friends, obeying one’s parents, not shouting when others are sleeping, greeting others. These are all important things we need to teach our children as they grow up.

Also very important is the example we show our children. We are hypocrites if we do not practice what we preach. Dad being gentle and loving mum shows children how they should treat their wives or husbands in the future.

Managing our emotions is also important. If we lose our temper, our children will learn to lose theirs easily as well. We have to teach our children to manage their feelings - feelings of unfairness, of anger, of greed. Everyone wants to do things his own way, but children have to be taught that they have to sometimes put others before their own wants first. Children also have to learn self-control. In moments of excitement, it is easy to lose control and risk harming one’s self or others by carelessness.

Also, we must be especially stern with Rebellion which must be punished but punishment too must be in control and not out of anger but for the good of the child. Thankfulness is also important. Children must learn not to take things for granted but thank God and appreciate the things that they have. 

Prayer:- Lord, please help me show a good example to my children, and give me the wisdom to teach them correctly, to love and respect you, and to love and respect others. In Jesus name, Amen.