Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– William Tiptaft
Seeing is Believing
You can tell your children one thing but then do another, and you know what they’re going to learn. If they see that their parents living a double-life, then children will think it’s normal. The parents unknowingly are condoning hypocrisy. Now a grandfather, I know they are watching our every move, and even when we don’t realize it!
Reactive or Proactive
When a parent has a flare up over something as trivial as a parking space, children undergo an escalation of stress. The more the parent is stressed, the more the child is, even from a very young age! When children see a parent react in calm, quite way, even when they’re not treated that way, they’ll understand how they’re supposed to react, and not react according to how they feel. That’s a very important difference.
Catching the Spirit
One of the best ways to teach children about God are to read some of the accounts from the Old Testament, where God performed powerful miracles, displaying His mighty omnipotence. Even accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministry will have their effect. Read these stories with excitement in the voice can show your children and grandchildren just how much you love God and the stories where God is their Deliverer. After you’re gone, they’ll remember these stories when the read them again as an adult.
Talk is Cheap
What happens when we’re not able to keep our promises. I would hope those occurrences are far and few between, but if we promise our children something, we must follow through, or they’ll learn that talk is cheap and they’ll have a hard time trusting others… even in their own parents!
Conclusion
Children know a lot more than they might let on. They can see with their own eyes what’s going on at home or in the car. The “real parents” come out when no one’s watching, but children are. How will we react to life’s situations? Will they catch the spirit from us? They won’t if we don’t do what we say, and especially if we tell them not to do something, and then we do it.
