Lead Your Kids

My wife recounted a conversation she had the first time she took our daughter to the dentist. Like most first-time parents, we were fairly clueless about how to care for our little princess. It seemed common-sense that you’d start brushing her teeth when she actually had teeth, right?

Wrong.

The dentist recommended we go ahead and start brushing her gums because you want to get her used to the types of behavior that she will grow into over time.

I’ve thought about this over the decade since that conversation. The basic concept was clear—you practice important habits before the child actually needs to implement them so they are already in place when they become necessary. This is the work of a strategic dad of a toddler.

Wise discipline for your children begins prior to any actual incident of misbehavior. In order to practice correction wisely and effectively, you’ll want to prepare—starting with preparing yourself.

Plus 17 ideas for books to read to your children

How can our mission to help our children grow in favor with God and man be accomplished? As we rely on God’s grace to love him and love others, we show our children what it looks like to follow the Great Commandment. As our children learn to follow that example, loving God and others, they will grow in favor with God and man.

Quick—think of someone you admire. What four or five attributes do you admire about them? 

Maybe you thought of their talents or skills—or even their strength or their intelligence. But it’s likely most of the things you thought of have to do with character. 

We should think about our kids in a similar way. We want our kids to grow physically and develop skills in academics, arts, and sports, is that really what we want our kids to be known for?  I think we want our children to be known for their character—for being brave or kind or wise. 

We all know that prayer is important, at least in theory. And we all know that family is important. So surely it should come naturally for us to pray for our families? 

But despite this logic, we probably all (at least from time to time) struggle with praying for our families. Here are 8 ways to pray for your family...

I recently read an article about how artificial intelligence will transform so many things that the entire way schools teach children must change. The article argued that most of what is done in the workplace will soon be done by machines and robots. If artificial intelligence can provide most of the knowledge and skills traditionally taught in schools, the author suggests, the most important thing we can teach is character. Skills and information might become irrelevant, but character is essential to navigating every part of history—even the years ahead of us. 

While I am not sure technology will take over the world as quickly as the author projects, I do believe that developing our children’s character by teaching them true wisdom is more important than anything else we can do for them. 

How do you want your children to grow?  What are your ambitions for them—the places where you most want your kids to excel? 

Is it too bold for us to want our kids to grow the same way Jesus did?

It’s not too bold. Instead, it is exactly what God calls us to do: to raise our children to be just like Jesus. 

What is one thing you would do differently as a parent? 

I recently considered this question while talking with my youngest child. He is now 21 and on summer break from college. He asked me what would I do differently if I could change only one thing in raising him and his sisters? A daunting question for those of us with mostly grown kids. 

Worshiping God with our kids is one of the greatest privileges of parenting. While nothing replaces worshiping with our church family on Sunday mornings, we can also bring the worship into our homes throughout the week. From Don Whitney’s book Family Worship, here is a simple approach you can use to start off your morning or wrap up the day praising God with your family.