Parenting

And Where Are Your Parents?

[163 words] Prosecutors in Knox county Tennessee decide to do something about a numbers of students that had been chronically absent from school. Under Tennessee law, parents can be held responsible for their children’s missed days. So they sent a letter to 582 parents of habitually truant students telling of a meeting they could attend…

If Eli Could Speak to Parents

[519 words] First Samuel tells us of the life of Eli. He was the high priest of Israel. He loved God and was very sensitive to His word. During his time, spiritual conditions were not good. People mocked God and lived immoral lives. Tragically, Eli’s sons became ungodly. They were disrespectful to God in their…

Promises to Make to Your Child

[296 words] There are some very interesting promises that God, as our heavenly Father, has made to each of us. And since He has made such promises to us, we as parents ought to use them as an example of the promises we should make to our children all through their lives. I promise to…

A Parent’s Example is Important

[445 words] When I was young, there was a cigarette commercial in which a father was sitting by a tree with his child. He lit a cigarette then set the cigarette package down on the ground. Immediately the small child picked up the package. The lesson was impressive. Little children are watching their parents. Not…

For Your Heirs

[515 words] “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22). The good side of an inheritance is that it gives children a start in life. It is one of the most effective forms of compound interest ever devised. The bad side is that children often fight over an inheritance. One man…

Will Our Kids Tear Their Clothes?

[415 words] When I was a kid in the 70’s, tearing your clothes was a horrible event. A mother’s admonition was, “Don’t tear a hole in your jeans, or I’ll have to patch them!” It was an accidental, tragic thing, usually occurring due to a child’s negligence.  In Bible times, though, tearing one’s clothes was…

Parents, Get Involved!

[261 words] Parents get deeply excited and involved with what their children are doing in school. They make sure the children prepare for classes. They make sure the children never miss a class, a practice or an event. They are even there with them. They send their children to all kinds on clinics and training…

Be Careful, the Children are Watching

[145 words] We need to be careful, children are excellent imitators, consider for a moment the following story:  A small girl watched with absorbing interest, everything which was happening at her mother’s card party. She observed how her mother dressed; how she dealt the cards; how the women drank cocktails, and how freely they puffed…

Are You Passing on Your Faith?

[349 words] “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well” (2 Tim. 1:5). I remember well the name of Howard Hughes. Hughes’ life started with great potential, but his life ended…

Handprints Aren’t So Bad After All

[347 words] The bags were packed, goodbye’s were said, and the children were excited as they prepared to go with their grandparents for a few days to Tennessee. My wife and I do not take a lot of overnight trips where we’ll be apart, but on this occasion she and the kids had an opportunity…

The Importance of Honoring Our Parents

[369 words] Jesus’ mother, Mary, witnessed the crucifixion from the foot of the cross. Despite his agony, Jesus told his best friend, John, to take care of his mom, and to his mother he said, let John stand in my place as your son. John lived a very long life, and I believe he took…

How to Handle a Tricky Situation

[157 words] When Paul wrote to Philemon, he was addressing a difficult situation. Philemon’s slave had run away, found Paul, and was obviously baptized into Christ (Philemon 1:10-16). Paul sent the slave (Onesimus) back to Philemon with the letter. How did Paul handle this tricky situation? 1. He recalls all the good things they have…

You Could Care Less If Dad Is Gone

[261 words] Empathy is the ability to feel for others. It’s what makes us care about each other as people and forms the roots of compassion and love. In a world that struggles with bullying, anger, and coldness, you could imagine why people want to know how to build it. Richard Koestner, a psychologist at…

Time is of the Essence

[374 words] Time. We all have a limited amount of it. We all know this, but we ignore it and waste time anyway. We are so selfish with time, not willing to share it or give it others. Time is of the essence is a legal term used in contracts to emphasize the necessity of…

Spend Time With Your Kids!

  [96 words] In the diary of Brooks Adams is a note about a special day when he was eight years old. He wrote, “Went fishing with my father; the most glorious day of my life.” Through the next forty years, there were constant references to that day and the influence it had on his…

Children Need Instruction

  [98 words] Proverbs shows the need for children to pay attention to instruction. Solomon admonishes his son to pay attention to his parents (Prov. 1:8-9), and to recognize the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). Children also need to be shown how to put those things into practice. The…

Timeless Words for Families

  [418 words] Ours, it is to be feared, is an irreverent age and land. The number of those who neither fear God nor regard man, is greatly multiplied. The whole providentially arranged system of things is reversed; and if there is any one motto which might be inscribed on the surface of society as…

Take Charge

  [249 words] When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem to commemorate the great exodus by observing the Passover, He found that the temple complex more resembled a marketplace and banking center than it did a place to offer worship to His Father (John 2:13-22). The place was filled with corrals full of livestock and kiosks for…

Start Early, Do More

  [157 words] A neurologist at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan has done research that reveals the great capacity of growing human brains to absorb information. He discovered that by age 2, the infant’s cortex is operating at adult levels. At age 4, that child’s brain is twice as active as the adult brain and…

A Prayer for Parents

  [361 words] Each of us know that prayer is very important. In our own lives we will pray at different times and for different reasons. We pray at meal times, when someone is having troubles in their lives (such as sickness, death or making difficult decisions). We also know that our Lord and Savior,…

Abandoned Children

[279 words] They’re called “baby hatches.” They were designed as a way for parents to anonymously drop off unwanted babies which might otherwise have been abandoned in the street. An infant is placed in a box that is built into a wall of a safe haven. When the box is closed, an alarm goes off,…

It’s Hard to Convince Your Children

[271 words] It’s hard to convince your children that the church is the most important thing in the world when you are negligent about attending its services and supporting its work. It’s hard to convince your children that the church is the greatest institution in the world when you permit them to miss services to…

Teaching Kids Sexual Purity

[254 words] Our culture is in a sexual free fall. The average age for first-time sexual intercourse for boys is 15.9 (girls 16.2). The vast majority of students are sexual by the time they are high school seniors. By the way, the percentage of “Christian” kids is no different. Parents don’t know what to do.…

Do You Have a Moses on Your Hands?

  [435 words] “What do you know about Moses?” the Bible class teacher asked her eager 5th graders. “He was saved from death because his mother put him in a little boat on the river.” “He was found by Pharaoh’s daughter.” “He led the people out of bondage.” “He gave the Ten Commandments.” “He led…

How to Bring up Children

  [286 words] The rearing of children is probably the most difficult task on the face of this earth. All of us desperately want our children to turn out right. I certainly do not claim to have all the answers. As a matter of fact, the older I get the less I know. However, I…

Parents, Please Read: There’s Trouble in the Land

  [328 words] There’s trouble in the land. No wide-awake person will deny that! These upheavals have caused many parents to express apprehension concerning the future of their children. That’s understandable. When our children graduate from high school and leave home, many of them also leave the church. Suddenly they are exposed to an environment…

Joseph

The picture of a truly successful man is seen in Joseph. As we view him in his late thirties, he is in the courts of Pharaoh with the number two position In the land. But his success was measured by more than that. He was a righteous man who, even in his youth refused to…

Making a Difference in the Family

God gave each member of the family a role to play. Each one playing his or her part will make a difference in the family, as can be seen in Paul’s instructions to the saints in Ephesus. Christian wives are to place themselves under the control of their husbands as one means of showing that…

A Judge’s Haunting Words

[217 words] I went to Sunday school when I was small and learned all about God. After I was married I decided to go again and take my children. I couldn’t persuade my husband to go, but the children and I went regularly for a year. Then I skipped a Sunday. And soon I skipped…

A Loving Father

[317 words] I recall an interview I once read of a young teenage girl. At one point in the exchange, she remarked, ”l know for a fact that my parents don’t love me.” Why do you think this teenage daughter said that? Here’s what ran through my mind when I read those words. Perhaps her…

Do You Struggle With Parenting?

[291 words] Parenting is challenging. The top of the Christian parent challenge list would be, “Will my child be faithful to Christ into adulthood?” The Fuller Youth Institute says 50% of students walk away from the church after they graduate High School. Our youth need: Intergenerational relationships: Titus 2:1-5 says, “But as for you, speak…

Fathers, What is Your Legacy?

  [288 words] Inheritance is important. Good fathers desire to leave something behind for their children (Prov. 13:22). Old Testament law even regulated the passing down of a father’s possessions (Deut. 21:15-17; Num. 27:8-11). As fathers, what sort of inheritance would we like to see our children get? Material Possessions. There is nothing wrong with…

Father Figure

  [248 words] Why is there so much violence, crime, hostility, anger, hatred, discrimination, disrespect, etc. in our world today? What’s wrong with America? I believe the answer can be summed up in two words: FATHER FIGURE. The ABSENCE of a father figure within the home is reaping havoc on our society. And when I…

Paying For Your Child’s Choice

[390 words] According to an investigative article by Eli Hager published in the Washington Post, March 2, 2017, entitled “Your child’s been sent to jail. And then comes the bill,” many states bill parents when their juvenile children are in the legal system. One woman in California was charged $30 a day, while her son…

Before He’s One

[55 words] Before your child has come to seven Teach him well the way to heaven! Better still the truth will thrive, If he knows it when he’s five! Better yet, if at your knee He learns it when he is only three! Best of all when you have begun To teach of Jesus before…

As We Headed Out the Door

[365 words] As we headed out the door of our house to load (or should I say cram) our daughter’s final bag of luggage into the car. I went back inside to make sure we had turned off all the lights. For whatever reason, l walked down the hallway to my daughters bedroom, opened the…

Enjoy While You Can

[75 words] A young mother, holding her toddler-sized child, was enjoying playful time with her daughter and the daughter was loving the attention and time from her mother. I rejoice when I see parents enjoying their small children. Certainly, children can be burdensome at times but, speaking as one whose youngest grandchild is just about…

Are We Bringing Our Children Up or Down?

[309 words] Rules for Bringing Up a Child: 1. Make home the brightest and most attractive place we can. 2. Make him responsible for helping in some daily duties at home. 3. Never punish in anger nor to relieve our own feelings, but only in love and for disobedience. 4.Do not ridicule his ideas; talk…

12 Things Fathers Do Which Provoke Children

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Colossians 3:21). Fathers do you discourage or anger your children? The scriptures clearly reveal God’s warning to fathers of the potential…

Faithful Fathers

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the…

Parents Have To Live It

At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his young players, “Do you understand what cooperation is and what teamwork is all about?” The little boy nodded in the affirmative. “Do you understand that what really matters is not whether we win or lose, but that we play together as a…

What Did You Think Of Church, Daddy?

Every Sunday, just about noon, families walk out of church, get in the car and begin the drive home. Crucial religious instruction takes place then. Here are some of the positions a parent can take as these minutes tick away. Act like you have never been to worship services. Do not mention anything that happened.…

Parenting

One Sunday a preacher was entertained in a farm home of a family of a rural church. The preacher was impressed by the intelligence and unusually good behavior of their only child, a little four-year-old boy. Then the preacher discovered one reason for the child’s charm. The mother was at the kitchen sink, washing the…