by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
A while back, one of my daughters was going through a box of her papers that we had stored in our attic. She ran across a paper she had written and given to me in her teen years that listed 10 reasons why I should let her get her belly button pierced. In fatherly fashion, I responded with a list of my own why it was not such a good idea.<\/p>\n
One day she texted a picture of the papers to me along with a “thank you” for not letting her do it! I texted back that I was such a mean daddy. No, she said, you were a caring daddy. It made my day. Man, it made my month!<\/p>\n
I’m no expert, but perhaps a bigger lesson is that our kids need our guidance. We’re their parents first and their friends later. Let’s aim them right.<\/p>\n
“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth<\/em>” (Psalms 127:4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores A while back, one of my daughters was going through a box of her papers that we had stored in our attic. She ran across a paper she had written and given to me in her teen years that listed 10 reasons why I should let her get her belly button pierced.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1028,1034],"tags":[665,29,107,945],"class_list":["post-64431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-parenting","category-teenager","tag-child-rearing","tag-parenting","tag-raising-children","tag-strictness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13993,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/things-are-improving-in-our-home-but-it-is-going-so-slowly\/","url_meta":{"origin":64431,"position":0},"title":"Things are improving in our home, but it is going so slowly!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you! Our home is slowly changing from a battle zone to a loving home. We still struggle, basically, since our 9-year-old acts like a 3 to 5-year-old, then I think she should have 3 to 5-year-old freedoms and choices. These will be earned back as she learns self-control\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Childhood"","block_context":{"text":"Childhood","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/childhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23532,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-daughter-whom-i-had-from-an-affair-ignores-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":64431,"position":1},"title":"My daughter, whom I had from an affair, ignores me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In my younger days, I met this woman and got her pregnant after a prolonged friendship. We were not ready for marriage and we went our separate ways. Later, both of us married to other people. 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First and foremost, we would like to thank you, as our situation has substantially improved. We are, however, writing to follow up, if you would be so kind. We have gotten\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adolescence"","block_context":{"text":"Adolescence","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/adolescence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-thirteen-year-old-daughter-isnt-listening-to-me-like-she-used-to-do-what-should-be-my-next-step\/","url_meta":{"origin":64431,"position":4},"title":"My thirteen-year-old daughter isn’t listening to me like she used to do. What should be my next step?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adolescence"","block_context":{"text":"Adolescence","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/parenting\/adolescence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31035,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-fourteen-year-old-runs-our-house-and-is-ruining-our-life-what-do-we-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":64431,"position":5},"title":"Our fourteen-year-old runs our house and is ruining our life. What do we do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My wife and I have a daughter age 14. We love her very much, but we made many mistakes. From the time she turned three, she began having hours long tantrums and screaming fits. 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