Character Issue

I am constantly listening and reading on family and parenting issues. Yesterday, I received an email Newsletter from Homeword and this article stirred me. I had to stop and think about how I was raising my children. As a parent, I take my responsibility very serious. Am I raising disciples or am just disciplining behavior?

Growing up I was raised with the behavior control method. This is how many people my age were raised and the generations before them. It got the results parents wanted, compliance. However, it also stirred up a resentful and angry generation of adults who do not know how to submit to authority. In short, it has breed rebellion.

I vowed that no one would ever control me and I would never raise my children this way. I had good intentions. However, I battle with proper submission and I do struggle with raising my children with control. It is so easy to pass on what you have learned without thinking. You have to be intentional about raising children in the ways of the Lord. So, I asked myself, how do you build character in a child? A better question came back to me, how can you change your character?

Children learn more by how we act and interact with them than by what we say. So, I am on a quest to change and build character in myself and my children. My children will reach more people for Christ than Anthony and I combined, but what I instill in them today will affect the level of their success.

What is your child raising method producting?

Discipline versus Discipleship

Goal: Nice Kids Goal: Mature influencers
Punitive, Corrective Model and pass on self-control
Controls behavior Promotes growth and learning
Focus: Child’s behavior Focus: Child’s learning and preparation
External Internal
Personality Character
Maintain peace in the family Integrate personal virtues
Behavior and thinking Feeling; thinking; deciding and behaving
Child changes behavior Child and Parent mature