I want to start a revolution!! Not to take over the country or its leadership, I want to start a revolution to have respectful obedient children who will then grow into respectful, thoughtful, God fearing adults.
Actually when I thought about this comment I decided I did want to take over the country. I want our children, our Godly young adults to rise up and lead us into the future, to be respectful, God fearing leaders of our country.
It seems to me these days the authority in homes is all back to front. The children run the home with the parents just trying to keep up and do what they are told.
When I grew up my parents were older (in their 40’s when we were adopted) and they had old fashioned morals and manners.
We were taught to wait for the adults to get their food at luncheons and we were to be seen and not heard, at the tables of my grandparents. My parents weren’t that strict and we were allowed to converse. My point is we were taught and brought up to respect our parents and adults. I still call my parents friends Mr and Mrs.
When we have church we have morning tea afterwards and it seems to me that the food is only there for the children or that’s what they think. There is no training the children to wait and let everyone arrive before they dive in, they aren’t taught to not stick their fingers in the sugar bowl and then lick them, it’s like a swarm of locusts. Actually there is no training. Training seems to be a thing of the past.
Parents don’t want to discipline, they don’t want to smack, either it’s too hard or they just don’t care.
I partly think our society has made it just too hard. We are not allowed to apply the rod of reproof to our children without fear of the authorities, without fear of having our children taken away from us, but it is our God given role to discipline and apply that rod.
There is a difference between applying the rod of reproof and belting the living daylights out of a child.
Proverbs 29:15 The rod of reproof gives wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Let us care, let us stand up and say “WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH”. Our children are too precious to us to allow them to have no respect for adults or us or any authority.
We teach our children to say hello, to look people in the eyes, to say thank you for any gifts or comments. They are taught to ask before eating, they are not allowed into our fridge (or anyone else’s for that matter) without permission.
They are encouraged to sit through church without any entertainment, because we are there to worship our Lord not draw or eat, and with training they can sit.
Both our boys have been adventurous to say the least. No 1 son is 19 now and has matured past his running everywhere and do everything mode, No 2 son is 7 and is still getting there.
That is ok though, it is alright to run around and be adventurous but it is not ok to be adventurous through church. It is not ok to be noisy or disrespectful during worship.
We have proven that even the busiest child can be trained to sit still. It takes times and energy and discipline in ourselves, especially when they are little, but the reward far out weighs the effort that we need to put in.
There are so many scriptures that support the discipline of our children. Proverbs is just a wealth of advice on how to raise our children and apply that discipline.
Proverbs 29:17 Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.
Then there are scriptures that encourage our children to obey us and honour us as their parents.
Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
My husbands grandmother lived until she was 100 and our older children always said that she must have obeyed and honoured her parents.
Our younger 2 children do not like rebuke and discipline, they both deal with it in different ways. One let’s it go quicker than the other and moves on, but they both come and say they love us and I feel that these are the boundries they need to be respectful young adults.
It concerns me that the generation that is being brought up now will be so self focused they will think the world owes them a living. Their parents have given them everything they have ever wanted, because it was easier than not and they will expect that their whole lives. They will have no respect for authority because they don’t understand the order of our lives, they won’t honour their parents.
So I want to start a revolution and I want you to join me. Let us raise Godly, respectful, disciplined children because this is the way God wants us to be.
Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Give it a go, you’ll be amazed at what your children can achieve and how more settled they will be when they understand and accept the order of authority in their lives.
Amen!
Thanks Stefanie, only one word needed. Blessings
AMEN! It’s like that here too, and it gets to the point if you discipline, you can get in trouble with the state for it. Been down that road and nearly lost the kids because hubby spanked one of the kids. It took a year to get out from under that mess, and God sure worked miracles there.
Oh I am so sorry that your family had to go through that, we had friends in the same predicament and it was awful for them. Seems so many things are taken out of our hands that should just be left up to us. Thanks for your comment. Blessings
Spanking is a state to state law here. I know in certain states it is illegal in public, but in one it is illegal all-together. Curious about the law there?
Let’s talk about church. You know, where we go to fellowship, learn and worship. Although that is why I’m there, it’s also my responsibility to teach my children how to properly fellowship (NOT running around the sanctuary), learn (not by crawling under the tables and talking over teachers), and worship (not color, eat, crawl under chairs). I understand that people love kids, but it’s so frustrating when they give my kids toys and coloring pages and crayons. I don’t bring them because I didn’t have a babysitter and now I have to figure out how to occupy them so I can worship–I came to train them up in the ways of our Lord!
We struggle between people telling us how unbelievably well-behaved our kids are and at the same time asking us why we’re so strict. We do feel sometimes that we are struggling to teach them empathy in love in a world saturated in entitlement and ME-ism.
Can you start a revolution here too? 🙂
Blessings,
Oh Deborah I know what you mean. We don’t get too hassled at our church because everyone is used to us expecting our children to sit still and not go to Sunday School during the service. I do think the younger mums just look at us and don’t actually understand how we got there and they are not very interested to know so we try and lead by example (don’t get me wrong – our children aren’t perfect). I don’t enjoy going to other churches that don’t know us and having to spend our time refusing all the goodies they expect our children will need during the service. Part of me wants to stand up and yell “back off – we’ve got this”, but alas I don’t (maybe not a good thing to do :-)). I would love to pop over and start a revolution but I will stand with you in prayer that we can do it together but apart. May God bless you my friend as you stand up for His will in your life. Blessings
We have an actual Children’s Church that starts midway through our adult service that we let go once they know how to sit still, respect the speaker and follow along in a bible.
You have probably put on a more gentle spirit than I. Have taken things away from my kids and handed them back to someone and said, “That’s so kind of you, but No-thank-you. We are here to worship and listen.” I haven’t used the “Back off, I’ve got this” approach yet…
Blessings from my side of the world,
Thanks Deborah for your comment, for us it’s a keep the family together to worship but I definitely respect your opinion on how you do things. I don’t know sometimes that gentle spirit doesn’t feel too gentle 🙂 Blessings to you and your family xxx
I agree! Not that my children could be called perfect, by any stretch of the imagination!
Neither are ours, but it’s that we try. Thanks for the comment Jayne. Blessings
Amen from me too! I was just recently at a church meeting and watched a young girl poke a hole into everything on the plate and no one batted an eye. I was appalled! Time to get parenting with the Proverbs again… GREAT POST TERRI!
Thanks for linking up with the Art of Home-Making Mondays this week!
Thanks so much Jes for your comment. Sometimes I feel that discipline is a thing of the past, but I feel so encouraged by the agreement I am getting from other Christian women like yourself. Thanks for taking the time to encourage me. Blessings and thanks for hosting.
I’m sure you are pushing some buttons with a few of your readers here (possibly myself included), but you can’t start a revolution without doing that! We have 5 and 8-year-old, extremely active boys. They are still works in progress, to say the least. I am sure you could have included some of their naughty behavior in your examples of how parenting in our society is falling apart. But, as with all areas of our Christian lives, I think many parents are doing the best they can with what they have at the time. That might not look like it did in the past – expecting children to be seen and not heard – but hopefully it will still result in raising Christian children who are excited about Jesus and committed to living a life that glorifies God! I respect your passion, and I am grateful you are challenging us all to continually be the best, most conscientious parents that we possibly can be.
Thanks Jenni for your thoughtful comment. You know I sat on this post for a little bit because I didn’t want to offend anybody. I know first hand how hard it is to raise active children. I was going to put a disclaimer in at the top and apologise first but changed my mind about that. I suppose what I am really suggesting is an attitude of trying to do our best, not just going “Oh I can’t be bothered”. We have a school attached to our church and the new headmaster stood up and stated that it takes a community to raise a child. Whether you send your children to school or you homeschool it is the parents responsibility to raise their children, not anyone else. Thank you for the comment that you respect my passion, I appreciate that. Thanks again for taking the time to comment. Blessings to you and your family.
I think a lot of parents are just LAZY. I raised 3 very respectful, hard-working, creative girls, now adults. Everyone always complimented how nice and polite they were, what a good work-ethic they had, that they were respectful and smart. I’m not a fan of the “seen but not heard” tradition, since I think it’s good for kids to participate in family meals/discussions, and it’s good to develop listening and communication skills. While you don’t get there overnight, it can be exhausting, but it’s worth it though. As an educator I’m shocked by the real lack of basic manners of many of my elementary students, so I teach them 🙂
Thanks Nancy for your comment. Only my grandparents were of the seen and not heard category, my parents allowed us to speak. My grandmother did scare me a bit thought :-). Raising children is hard work but it is so worth it. Wonderful that you teach your students good manners. That’s wonderful. Blessings
Amen!
Thank you so much Chris, Blessings.
Hi! I’m visiting from Women with Intention linkup. I don’t have children, but if I did I would be right next to you in your revolution. I love your inspiration and encouragement 🙂
Thanks so much Michelle for your thoughtful and encouraging comment. Blessings
I really resonate with Jenni here. My children make mistakes all the time (so do I!) and I am doing the best I can. Some days my “best” isn’t my actual best, but it’s what I have in the moment. Parenting is the hardest job I have ever had and it’s the one that I feel like has come with the least amount of instructions. My heart is to have respectful and obedient children, but sometimes it just doesn’t play out that way. But we continue to teach and respond and love.
Hi Jennifer, I suppose what I meant was a heart attitude. I know from personal experience it can be tough going raising children. You have an attitude of wanting to try, that was more my point, at least you care. Thanks for your comment I appreciate your openness. Blessings.
I’m with you on starting a revolution to raise Godly children who understand respect and manners. As a teacher I see too often what you are describing about children and how they are being raised today. Great post! Thank you for linking up with The Weekend Brew.
Thanks Mary for your thoughtful and encouraging comment. Blessings
With a special needs child, discipline is even harder. We struggle, but I just keep trying. I will not have unruly children! LOL Thanks for sharing on the (mis)Adventures Mondays Blog Hop!
It must be difficult Mindie with a special needs child, well done on keeping trying, you are a great example to us all. Blessings
Yes! Thank you! My parents raised us in a God-fearing home. I am appalled by the things I’m seeing in children today! The language, the disrespect, the name-calling (at parents!), they DO run the household and it’s ruining their lives!
Parents have become so lazy, so ignorant, and so self-obsessed that children have become merely an accessory and not a legacy. A revolution is in order!
Thanks Alli for getting back to me. That is exactly what I mean, it is such a heart attitude. Blessings to you and your family. xxx
This is a very good and thought provoking post! In so many ways I agree about starting a revolution. The entitlement I see being raised is terrifying. We have 5 children and it definitely is a challenge trying to raise them “correctly”. I tend to find myself agreeing with Jennifer and Jenni (maybe it’s our names!) but in the end I think we all have a heart for wanting our children to be respectful, loving, generous, polite, and glorifying to God. Thank you for linking up at Women With Intention Wednesdays! 🙂
I think that is the key Jenny, that you have a heart for your children to be respectful and God fearing. What I am noticing is a lack of conviction on anything like this. Just caring is half way there. Thanks for your comment I appreciate you stopping by. Blessings