Search results for: parenting
Sixteen to Nineteen-Year-Olds
Sixteen to Nineteen-Year-Olds Teaching Independence After all the hard work that you put into raising godly children, now is the time to reap some benefits of that work. Your older teenagers are still living at home, but we now must prepare them for eventually living on their own. Soon the time will come when they…
Read MoreWhen to Have that Little Talk
When to Have that Little Talk It is a mixed blessing when our children reach puberty. Our children are growing up. They are moving on to adulthood, leaving childhood behind. Soon all we will have left are memories and a few photographs. There are many dangers that our children must face, which require parents to…
Read MoreNine to Fifteen-Year-Olds
Nine to Fifteen-Year-Olds Teaching Self-control Around the age of nine to ten (on average), our children begin a dramatic series of changes that take them from childhood to adulthood. The precise ages that these changes begin to vary from child to child. The order of the changes also varies by the sex of the child…
Read MoreFive to Nine-Year-Olds
Five to Nine-Year-Olds “First Flight” by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Responsibility Training It is amazing how quickly our children grow. The years just fly by with wild abandon. Somewhere between the age of five and six, our children begin their formal schooling. The children have been learning up to this point. They have learned to talk,…
Read MoreFour and Five-Year-Olds
Four and Five-Year-Olds “Wonder” by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Obedience Training Preschoolers (and kindergartners) can communicate in complex ways. They become an endless source of “Why?” It is no longer enough to know that something exists. They want a reason for it. They are not asking “Why?” to get a detailed explanation but to see the…
Read MoreTwo and Three-Year-Olds
Two and Three-Year-Olds Limits Tested What parent hasn’t been warned about the terrible twos and threes? What causes the dread? By the time a child reaches the age of two or three, he is no longer completely dependent on his parents. Two and three-year-olds can efficiently move about. They can run, climb, and manipulate objects,…
Read MoreNewborns
Newborns When Parents Learn Patience Many changes come to a family when a child is born. New parents are usually unprepared for the differences in their lives, even with the best-advanced warning. Even experienced parents experience shock when a new addition to the family arrives. With each child, I found myself remarking, “I had forgotten…
Read MoreStudies for Married Couples
Studies for Married Couples Letters of Advice to Newlyweds A series of personal letters giving advice to newly married couples about marriage and family. (Continue to be written.) Read More Preparation for a Lifetime A study to prepare couples for marriage. Read More Raising Godly Children in a Wicked World A study for parents and…
Read MoreHow do we worship with an autistic child?
Question: Hello. I wrote to you about 5 or 6 years ago for some advice on how to help my severely autistic son during worship. Today he is 8 years old and going to worship never got easier but in fact got extremely hard, to the point where going was nothing but a major distraction…
Read MoreArchives
The Archives (Full) Use the category dropdown to narrow your list to the section a post was placed. Use the tag dropdown to narrow your list by the subject matter. For example, you can select a category of answer to find an answer to a question and select a tag of parenting to narrow the list…
Read MoreI get so mad at my former boyfriend that it is affecting my life
Question: Hello, I am a member of the Lord’s church. I have been going through a rough cycle of hurt, anger, and unforgivable times with my daughter’s father. After we broke up a few years ago, it started to be rough with co-parenting with him. I called off my relationship with him because I knew…
Read MoreMy daughter is planning to marry someone we do not think is suitable
Question: Jeff, I stumbled onto Do you need her parent’s blessing before marrying? I was looking for information to present to my children living at home why I can’t attend a marriage between my daughter and a young man whom she feels is “perfect.” My husband did not give his blessing for her to date or court…
Read MoreYou Can’t Say That in My State!
Source: Matthew Barakat, “Rosemond sues board targeting his columns,” Omaha World-Herald, July 17, 2013. John Rosemond has been writing a syndicated newspaper column on parenting since 1976. He takes a conservative, no-nonsense approach that dismisses modern psychology — pointing out the children have been successfully raised for thousands of years with simple techniques that until recently…
Read MoreMy 16-year-old is being disrespectful
Question: I have a 16-year-old son who has been very disrespectful in this household. It’s all because he asked if he could stay with a friend one night and I told him yes. But I called to check on him, and he had gone to a party that had alcohol. He wasn’t drinking, but when…
Read MoreShould I let my son be in a play that contains a short waltz?
Question: Hello, I am a mom with a particular problem: my son wants to be a part of a play and in it, he would be waltzing for a few seconds. He is a 17-year-old with an aim to preach. He has been raised in the Scriptures all of his life, and we are so…
Read MoreAm I still in adultery?
Question: I need some advice about my situation. There is a lot that has happened, but I’m going to try to summarize to keep it short. Several years ago I had sex with a girl who was barely married a few months before to a guy (I’ll call him “J”). We kept on in it,…
Read MoreMy girlfriend is moving back into a bad situation. What can I do?
Question: OK. This could take a while. I’m with this girl. She is by far, without a doubt, the love of my life. I’ve come a long way. Far enough that I can tell through some of my people they want what I got, though they won’t say that. But it seems I have done…
Read MoreHow do I deal with a misbehaving boy who is being mean to my son?
Question: I am having a hard time lately with the way my preteen son is treated by his long time friend at church. One week the friend will be his buddy, the next week he will purposely exclude him and make an issue over leaving him out of a conversation by saying something like “I…
Read MoreCounting the Cost: Using Biblical Principles to Guide our Children in Spouse Finding
by Sally Ann Perz Choosing a spouse is the second biggest decision in one’s life—this is surpassed only by choosing to follow Christ. We must guide our children in this effort just as we lead them to Jesus. We often leave this important choice to them—somehow they are ‘on their own’ when it comes to…
Read MoreAm I spoiling my youngest children?
Question: I am nearly sixty and a widower. My wife gave birth early to a set of twins, but she didn’t survive the delivery. I was left with children ranging from 10 years of age to sickly premeies. The twins survived and will be 13 soon. They are intelligent; spoiled brats to be honest! I…
Read MoreHow does a parent prepare himself for the need to punish?
Question: I have read many of the answers you have given about spanking and while I disagree or am uncomfortable with using anything other than a hand for it, I have seen the positive effects of spanking being part of several punishment options for parents with my friends and their children. I now have my…
Read MoreHow do I honor abusive, ungodly parents?
Question: Our parents are abusive, ungodly people. I have forgiven them and continue to ask God to help me. My sister says I have to honor them by doing what they want because they are old. She chooses to subject herself to their verbal abuse. I struggle to do as God would want. I do…
Read MoreLike Arrows
by Steve Higginbotham via Bulletin Briefs, Vol. 12, No. 4, April 2009. In Psalms 127:4, the inspired text has a fascinating comparison. Here it is written, “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children of one’s youth.” From this simple simile, several significant and sobering truths shine forth. Like arrows, children need…
Read MoreMy thirteen-year-old daughter isn’t listening to me like she used to do. What should be my next step?
Question: Hello. I am a single mother (I divorced 3 years ago, unfortunately). I have a daughter who is 13. I had a question regarding parenting: In the past, my ex-husband and I had a more lenient parenting style. We taught our daughter all the values of the Bible and we had rules and everything,…
Read MoreWhat gives you the right to teach that homosexuality is wrong when you can’t be sure you’re right?
Question: I’d like to let you know straight away: what you are doing is so incredibly wrong that it cut me to the quick. I don’t have any problems with people believing in God. But I do have a problem with those guys who think that they have to spread the most terrible parts of…
Read MoreI think spanking leads to more aggression
Question: I think spanking a 14-year-old young man is unreasonable and will lead to more aggression. My parents spanked me with the belt and left bruises. It left scars on my soul and was not focused on loving correction. I am very conservative in my theology and think this Scripture did mean spanking when younger…
Read MoreExpect More Out of Your Kids
by Matthew Allen Earlier this week, I participated in a discussion concerning alcohol and advertising. The debate was over whether alcohol companies target youth in their advertising. There is very strong evidence to suggest that the alcohol companies do in fact target adolescent audiences even though such persons are under the legal age to consume alcohol.…
Read MoreFrankness
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2004/09/Frankness.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Proverbs 28:23 I. Most of us desire the esteem of those around us. We don’t want people to think bad of us; instead, we want the respect of people. A. It is that basic desire that Satan exploits – James 1:13-16 B. Behind “pride of life” is the simple desire of…
Read MoreWhoso Findeth a Wife Findeth a Good Thing, and Obtaineth Favour of the LORD
by Sally Anne Perz Text: Proverbs 18:22 Next to God, the most important person in a wife’s life is her husband. Often wives are guilty of holding their husbands to their own expectations and standards or comparing them to other men. Learn what kind of a man you are married to—and remember that you were…
Read MoreHow do we undo the bad parenting we did in the past?
Question: My 10-year-old son has had a hard past. We, his parents, fought the first seven years of marriage; however, now we are in the process of planting new godly seeds into him. But now we are having to deal with the seeds of disobedience, disrespect, and complaining. We want to uproot the bad seeds…
Read MoreThe Family
Series by Scott Smelser Fall 2007 The Husband The Wife Discipline Parenting Mistakes The Children
Read MoreHow does Philippians 3:10 relate to family?
Question: How do I tie Philippians 3:10 in with marriage, family, and parenting? Answer: “Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain…
Read MoreA rebuttal to “When is a child too old to spank?”
Question: I would like to comment on your article entitled: How do we start biblical discipline when our children are already older? I agree with most of what you have written. I believe that corporal punishment can be very effective if it is done in love, not impulsively and not as a reaction to anger. As…
Read MoreDid You Think to Pray?
by Allen Webster Scenario: The church I attend is losing members instead of gaining them. We are not meeting the budget. We have too few children in Bible class and far too few members to return Sunday night. Instead of adding new programs and activities for next year, we are cutting back on what we…
Read MoreOur Need for Guidance
Text: John 10:1-18 I. A disturbing trend has been commented upon time and again A. Children going astray, Christians leaving the church. B. It appears that the second law of thermodynamics applies to Christians as well. 1. Instead of a trend toward increasing entropy (randomness and disorder) 2. It is a trend toward increasing apathy C. While not the sole…
Read MoreIs this spanking normal?
Question: This afternoon I was at my girlfriend’s house, and she has a 7-year-old son. He was not putting his toys away after he was done playing with them. My friend Gina asked him to please put his toys away, and he said “no” and back talked her. She grabbed him by the arm, told…
Read MorePunishment Doesn’t Help
by Mark Roberts Journalist Betsy Flagler writes the syndicated “Parent to Parent” column that asks readers to write in with parenting problems and then tries to get expert help for those troubles. A mother in California recently wrote in that her first-grader has been pushing and hitting, has been kicked out of the library, and…
Read MoreHow should I punish my defiant 14-year-old son?
Question: I have a question in relation to child training. My son is 14 and I have to occasionally give him a spanking. However, he has been getting in trouble with the same sin. He continues to defy his mom. I read your articles on the website in regards to using the rod. I usually use…
Read MoreCan spanking hurt a child’s feelings?
Question: My son was very rude and would not explain his behavior. I must mention that it has been over a month since the last time that I spanked him. At that time I gave him a spanking in front of everyone. It was very effective, so I used the same method this time. I…
Read MoreHow will male virtues be passed on without spanking?
Question: I am a Swedish man living in Denmark, not a Christian or religious at all, but I am brought up in a tradition where spanking and what my father called “male virtues” was normal. This was in the ’60s and beginning of the ’70s. I do agree that for boys it is a necessary…
Read More