A lot of my parenting tips involve trying to elicit a certain behavior. It’s often about getting them to follow the rules. However, I don’t want kids to be forced to follow rules just to make my own life or even their own lives easier (although that would be nice). Without winning their hearts for Jesus, the rules are shallow. You want to reach the motive behind their actions. You want to emphasize their relationship with God rather than the rules. You’ll come to this when dealing with all sorts of decisions. When they ask tough moral decisions, help them to think from a Biblical perspective. A huge part of this is going to be the love you exhibit for the Lord and how it reflects in your life. Another part of this is going to be through direct teaching. Another aspect of this is going to be built into life and discussions with your children asking a ton of questions. Be prepared to give answers. Be prepared to let them ask. Be prepared to listen. Do not focus so much on the rules that you completely forget the reasons behind the rules – The fact that the Lord loves us and created us to love him and bring him glory. He creates the rules (as do we as parents) because He wants the best for us and He wants others to come to know His love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
