What Does the Bible Say About Discipling Our Children?

Hey Lovelies💕

First off, let’s just say, parenting no matter how it is done, is hard! It’s EXTREMELY refining!

I mean I’ve heard that parenting does not have to be HARD as long as we center Jesus in our parenting, but I feel like I haven’t gotten to that point, YET!

This world is definitely no help with a million and one ways to parent and discipline your child. So, is it even worth referencing the world? Nope. I don’t think so.

But, let’s get into it and how this even became a topic for me.

My husband and I have three children. The eldest being a 3.5 year old and the youngest being 1 year old twins. Honestly, it’s great but sometimes it’s really really rough because we noticed that we CONSTANTLY are “correcting” and “reprimanding” our eldest that it seems to be the only things coming out of our mouths. While, we also are praising our babies for everything.

Eventually, Yelling at him did nothing, time -out became a game, worst of all…he started to do things purposely.

This made us really think, cry, and pray. Realizing we are doing this all wrong.

We are hurting our child.

We broke down so badly at the thoughts of how we hurt our first baby.

When we break…where do we need to look? To God!

First, we are reminded of who WE are. We are CHILDREN of God, who continues to pour out his love, grace, and mercy on us. So, we should extend the same to our own children. Because every relationship is a reflection of the one we hold with our God.

So this big question is…

How can we correct our son's behavior without turning him away and questioning our love?

Love him like Jesus loves us!

One of many Bible verses says this,

“Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”Proverbs 13:24

Let’s break it down.

If you’re not willing to disciple your child then you are just leading him to death because a parent who loves their child is willing to lead their child to life through correction and refinement.

The word DILIGENT means:

diligent | ˈdiləj(ə)nt |

adjective

having or showing care and conscientiousness in one's work or duties:

SHOWING YOUR CARE IN THE MOMENT

Next, the word DISCIPLINE means:

discipline | ˈdisəplən |

noun

1 the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience:

We as parents must first TRAIN (teach) our children the expected behavior.

We can’t expect our children to know how to behave when we never actually TAUGHT them how to behave in each situation.

As parents, we look at our children as they get old and think “oh, they should know how to act. OR “I know he/she understands because sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t”

First off, if the issue is developmental. That’s the first problem because we forget to realize that our children do not think or process situations as we do. They are still learning things that seems like “common sense” to us, but ITS NOT to them! Because instead of helping them, we end up hardening their hearts.

Conclusion:

-Be reminded of where our children are developmentally

-With CARE, TEACH what is expected

-Give them some time to understand

-When the behavior is not followed at first, extend some patience and grace to your child like the Lord does for us and TEACH again.

-Be the example you expect of your children.

-lastly, punishment is required for disobedience. Im not saying beat your kid. Im saying this would be the time for “time out” or “taking away fun for the time being”.

-Do all of this in LOVE and not in POWER

These are the steps my husband and I will continually be taking in parenting/disciplining our children.

Just after a few days of implementing the biblical way of disciplining, changes are already noticeable.

God works in every situation!

Like everything else, I pray that this post blesses you and your family!💕

So much love,

Ki’ari