Discipline your son while there is hope (Proverbs 19:18).

An average child begins to struggle with his identity and seek his independence as he
approaches the age of 12. The permissive parent starts to panic when the child assumes his
own identity and starts pulling away. Fearing the worst, the parent becomes authoritarian
by tightening the screws of discipline and restricting the child’s activities. A
power struggle ensues with predictable results. The child bolts and the parent calls for
advice.

The problem of the rebellious, stubborn, disobedient child was easily resolved in the
Old Testament: The child was stoned by the men of the city (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
Sometimes we wish discipline were that simple! Yet this passage helps us understand that
even decent parents who try to be good disciplinarians sometimes have stubborn and
rebellious children. Why? Because you aren’t the only influence in your child’s
life. And by the time he enters school you may no longer even be the predominant
influence. During the formative years from birth to five, you have your greatest
influence. Your most important task during that period (especially around ages two and
three) is to break the child’s will without breaking his spirit. It is then that you
must establish boundaries of behavior that are progressively expanded until the child is
on his own.

As parents, we must help our children establish their relationship with God so they
know what it means to be a child of God. Once they go off to school, you can’t go
with them, but God can and does. If we don’t help them establish their identity in
Christ, they will establish their identity in the world. If we don’t give them an
eternal purpose and meaning in life, they will establish a temporal purpose and meaning.

Heavenly Father, guard my children from the conflicting messages and compromising
values being thrown at them in the world today.

———–

This daily devotional is published and distributed by http://www.GOSHEN.net/
.

It is written by Neil Anderson at http://www.ficm.org/