It's all in the Parenting

This morning as I was going through my normal reading regiment I came across and article (sidebar to this article has some articles that are inappropriate please use caution when navigating there) about a young lady that started drinking at 12. By he time she was 14 she had liver failure, but that did not stop her. She is now 18 and is in rehab. She suffers from short term memory loss due to the drinking.

As a Christian parent I read this and was appalled at the fact that the mom didn't have a clue about what was going on, but then as I though about it I know parents like this and they attend church weekly. It is amazing to me that parents can be so clueless about the goings on of their children, but yet in our society it has become "cool" to let our kids act like adults. We have allowed our kids the freedoms that used to be only alloted to an adult and the scary thing is that we, as society, are allowing it to affect younger and younger children.

So how do we handle this as Christian parents? Do we bring our kids in closer to home and become inclusive? Do we shelter our kids from the culture to he point that all they know is the four walls of your home? I don't believe so. I believe whether you are a home school parent or a parent of a public school kid these dangers exist. It all comes back to the interaction you have with your children and how you have trained them.

There are a few of scripture that always come to mind when I think of how I should parent my children.

Psalm 34:11 " Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

Psalm 78:5 "For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children,"

Deut. 6:6-9 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

We are to train our children to in scripture so that they will turn from sin when encountering it. We as parents cannot expect to always be there when our kids encounter temptation. By shielding our kids from what we perceive sin to be instead of training our kids in scripture and helping them to understand who God is will be foolishness and yet many Christian parents see this as a solution. Sheltering our kids from the culture is not the solution. the solution is training our kids.

We as parents, not just Christian parents must start acting like their parents and not their friends. We must debrief them when they get home from school, screen their friends and most of all listen to their music and screen their television shows and movies. We as parents are supposed to train and guide them not hang out with them.
Parents how well do you know your kids? Do you know their friends? Do you know what they are doing? Don't be like the mom above and assume that your child is at a friends house instead of at school.