[#life Series] Parenting Part 1နမူနာ

First Principle of Parenting

Many of us are doing a lot of things as parents. We want our kids to succeed in life and with God. There is a great array of things that clamor for our attention. But wouldn’t it be great to know where to make the biggest impact in parenting? Where to concentrate our best efforts to generate better and more lasting results in our children?

In Proverbs 3:1, Solomon asks his son not to forget his teaching, but to keep it in his heart. From this we can learn that the first principle of parenting is to aim for our children’s heart. There are a lot of secondary goals we can aim for, and they are good as well. But we should aim for the main thing first—and that would be our children’s hearts.

Some aim for the head instead. We should have educated kids who can do a good job in school. Academics are tremendously important. But that is not the number one thing. Others aim for their hands. It would be great if they could hone their skills, play that trumpet correctly, be a great drill team person, be a good actor or actress, throw that ball in the right way. But these are not the main focus. Still some others aim for their social interaction. It is desirable they be accepted or popular and have friends. But there is no greater joy than seeing your kids walk in the truth.

The Hebrew word for ‘heart,’ ahab, is a word that it is used symbolically—not to represent emotions, but to represent the seat of intellect and will. In other words, it means to commit your inner self to God and not to seek to be independent of God. But how do we do that?

When we talk about obedience, we cultivate children’s hearts by letting them know the “why” behind the rules. Kids are like a bar of soap. If we squeeze them too tight, we lose them, but if we let them go, we lose them as well. We have to hold them just right, and that is putting the “why” and the “what” together behind those rules. We want them to grow in their dependence upon God, that their inner will and their inner self go to Him. So aim for the heart first and then throw in everything else.