Hope Weekly 9/3/13

Raising His Kids

Hi Church Family,

As Doug and I continue to grow our parenting skills, with our 2 newly adopted sons, I'm always on the look out for great tips. I subscribe to Biblical parenting newsletter in which I get a new tip every week, that seems to know what we are dealing with. The tips are free and they always share what book they are from if you'd like more on the topic.

Today's research is telling us 59 percent of children raised in a Christian home leave the church at age18. No guess as to how many come back or when they return. We need to do all we can to influence them while they are with us. Talk to your children, grandchildren, and friends. Tell them about your faith and how it's changed your life. Maybe even sign up for great free parenting tips that could help you change a life. The Great commission applies to children and youth too. Go and make Disciples!

Parenting Tip

When Kids Want to Fight

When children are unhappy they look for ways to draw their parents into a fight. Kids know just where your buttons are and how to push them to make you angry. "Dad wouldn't do it that way," or "You never let me have fun," might be all that's needed to create the volcano effect. When children get angry and are looking for a fight, it's as if they step into the boxing ring and invite you to join them.

All too often parents, believing that they are stronger, smarter, and more powerful, are willing to put on the gloves and enter the ring to "teach this kid a lesson" or "put him in his place." The key indicator that says you want to accept the invitation to fight is your harshness. The intensity increases as each party is determined to win the battle. Unfortunately, setting ourselves up as opponents does more damage to the relationship than we expect.

Instead of getting into the ring with your children, imagine going around the ring to the child's corner and becoming a coach. You might say, "I'm not going to discuss this with you while you're upset. First, you need to settle down and then we'll talk about the problem." Or, "The way you're talking to me sounds like you're trying to provoke me into an argument. I'm not going to fight with you."

Coaching children out of the boxing ring means that we stop dealing with the issue at hand and instead discuss the way we're relating. Moving our focus from the issue to the process has a dramatic effect on the relationship when things begin to get tense. The parent refuses to become a sparring partner and instead looks for ways to improve the relationship. This doesn't mean that the child will instantly become responsive, but it does mean that the parent chooses a different posture, one that offers healing instead of antagonism, and closeness instead of distance.

This parenting tip comes from the book, Good and Angry, Exchanging Frustration for Character In You and Your Kids by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN.

If you'd like to receive tips yourself, you can sign up atwww.biblicalparenting.org.

Children are the living message we are sending to a time we'll never see.

Serving His Kids

Pastor Barb