CHRISTIAN PARENTING SERIES
PART II
DISCIPLING REASONING CHILDREN

REJOICE IN REALITY

Let Him Change You ~ Let Him Change Them

1. Parenting Young Children
2. Discipling Reasoning Children Introduction
   • Transition to Standards of Conduct
   • Develop the Tool of Home
     • Example of Honoring (Do Extra)
     • Example of Honoring (Faithfulness)
     • Example of Perseverance
     • Examples of Coming Alongside
   • Rejoice in Reality
   • A Conversation Between Two Moms
3. Releasing Steadfast Children
   
4. Celebrating Established People of God

Just as you wouldn’t begin peeling back the petals of a rose to get it to bloom, you cannot force the “blooming” of those you love or even of yourself. Instead you can…

• become proactive in your parenting and discipling, watering and weeding the seeds God has instructed you to plant—seeds you are planting in your children’s lives because Father-God is planting those in your life as well.

• seek unity with your husband in your everyday life together. (See the Marriage section of this Christian website to explore this concept more fully.)

• continue to grow in relationship with the Lord through moment-by-moment prayer and worship. Let Him be your spiritual Head—your Source for love, life, and wisdom. (See the Mom’s Growth section.)

You cannot force your children to bloom. But you can cooperate with the Lord through developing the tool of home and yielding your heart to the Lord so that you yourself can become a purified vessel through which God pours His Life and Love to your children.

Putting relationships first, above all other activities, develops your faith, as you wait on the Lord—cooperating with Him—for the unfolding of your children’s lives.

As you live with that vision before you—that you have a part in helping your children reach their full potential in Christ—you will begin to change how you relate to them as you…

• process with them through the everydayness of life, rather than let peers mentor them or other adults mentor them superficially periodically;

• validate who they are becoming by building on their strengths, rather than fret over and focus on their weaknesses; and

• love them unconditionally as you continue to train them in character, rather than expect them to perform to school, societal, or church standards.

A CHILD WHO IS

• listened to instead of lectured

• validated for who she is becoming instead of forced into an image, and

• loved unconditionally instead of loved for performance,

Only by the power of the One who created us are we able to motivate our children over the long term through a life-long process of commitment to them and their "whole person" growth.

"Whole person" growth isn't about performance; rather "whole person" growth involves the whole person—the body, soul [mind (this is where academics fits in, and it's just a small part of the vision), will, emotions], and spirit.

When processing, validating, and loving is taking place moment by moment between parents and children, parents never need to force growth externally [we can’t anyway] because the child's inward heart motivation to please the one she loves and to become all she was created to be will be motivation enough.

We Christian moms want to please the One Who loves us and become all He created us to be; so it is with our own children. It's the way God parents us moms so we too can learn to parent our children from the overflow of His love, life, and wisdom through us.