As parents, one of our goals should be raising well-rounded Christian children who are prepared for life. This involves many different aspects, such as spiritual, academic, social, and practical life skills.
It’s important that we try to balance the different areas, so they will be ready to take on the opportunities God has planned for them.
1. Teach them a love of God’s Word.
From the time they accept Christ as their Savior, start to help them learn day by day to have a strong reliance on God’s Word, and to know that they should go to Him in prayer for all of life’s problems.
2. Allow natural consequences. Kids need to have opportunities to recognize the consequences of their decisions, good and bad. This doesn’t mean you throw them to the wolves, but rather give them ample opportunities to think through situations and make decisions. Be available to help them and talk to them. Guide them, but allow them to make decisions and realize there are consequences for sin.
3. Teach them to seek God in their day-to-day life. Work on Scripture memorization with them from a young age, and help them establish the habit of reading God’s Word daily, and seeking to hear His voice.
4. Actively teach your kids that life doesn’t always work out in their favor. Help your children learn how to handle disappointment. If children are used to getting everything they want, they’ll never feel the sting of being let down. Disappointment is all but guaranteed in this life, so it’s important that you teach them from a young age how to deal with it when it comes.
5. Teach your kids the joy of a job well done. Teach them to enjoy work, and to have a good work ethic. A good work ethic is learned, and there is no better time to nurture that in your child than when they are growing. Help them explore tasks they enjoy doing, but also how to handle the things they don’t like. Work well-done glorifies God and they need to see that. Doing tasks they love with excellence, but also fumbling through things they aren’t good at will teach them that they won’t excel at everything, but they can put their best effort into any job assigned to them.
6. Gradually teach them independence and self-reliance. As our children grow, it’s important that they learn how to be who God created them to be apart from you. Make sure you have taught them how to make wise decisions and to seek counsel when making important life choices. This doesn’t mean you have to throw your little birdies off the branch while their wings are still weak, but rather, little by little help them make decisions and do things on their own until they are able to start doing them naturally without your help.
7. Help them see that they earn privileges when they have learned to show responsibility. Privileges shouldn’t be given but earned. This teaches kids that when they prove to be responsible, they will get greater privileges in the home and eventually in life.
8. Encourage them to read good, character-building books. What we take in often is what we put out. So make sure your kids are filling themselves with books, music, and other media that encourage them. Surround them with good books, and uplifting music in your home, making it readily available to them. Encourage a love for reading, as well as a taste for the right kind of music.
9. Communicate with your kids constantly. Part of raising well-rounded Christian children is learning when to be quiet, and knowing when to speak up. Spend time listening to them, and allow them to express their feelings and a safe space to ask questions. Give LOTS of praise!
10. Create a home they can live in. While you have your children in your home, you want to be around them, but not necessarily hovering all of the time. You want to be close by, but give them some independence to form friendships and connections. Make your home that place where not only your kids want to be, but a place where they want to bring their friends.
8 Responses
Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
Appreciate it
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Hi Heather!
You can highlight just the post text & images, then copy into a Microsoft Word document. Delete the ad images and then print.
Thanks,
Kathie
Is there an easy way to print this list so it’s not full of side bar type ads and it’s not a ton of pages? Thanks!
Hi Aimee, I would first of all set up a routine where he knows it’s the same everyday. As soon as he gets home from school, maybe have a snack and chat time about his day, then homework time before play or electronics. (If he’s an active child, have a 15 minute outside time for running, jumping, etc as well) Then have an incentive to finish the homework. For example: If you get all your homework done before supper, you can have 30 minutes on the ipad, or a special treat, or stickers on a chart that lead to a bigger prize when it is completed. Find that thing you can dangle before him that would motivate him enough. Praise him every time he does a good job of getting right at it.
I’ve written to you before. I could use your counsel and expertise on dealing with an older sibling or older child who just sees no reason to do homework or even try..
Thank you Elizabeth! Glad you liked it. I’m with you on long overwhelming posts – I usually stop reading them about half-way through!
Excellent post! Covers a lot of bases in a quick, easy-to-read, not overwhelming post! 🙂