The Talk, the dreaded talk…but aren’t talks classified by our children as lectures? And we all know, lectures don’t work well. God’s Word tells us these talks should be conversational, like our talks with Him. Every day, as we sit in our houses, ride in our cars, every time opportunities arises to dispense what my Dad called little pearls of wisdom. Jesus took Dad home almost twenty years ago, yet I still hear those treasured words in my head and in my heart.
Parenting isn’t a part-time birth-through-high-school occupation. It’s a full-time, life-long assignment given by God to husbands and wives. Children are gifts and blessings from Him, not nuisances. But these babies are little mimes who mimic what they see. What you want them to learn, they must see lived out in you each day.
“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul…and you shall teach them to your sons (and daughters), talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up…” - (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)
1. The Bully TalkBullying has invaded our schools, our homes, even our churches. Bullies are made, not born. Mom often quoted--Actions are caught, not taught. If you’re dealing with a bully, it’s probably learned behavior within their family, or attention seeking behavior. But if your child is being bullied make sure they understand they must act, not react, to remove themselves from the bully—seeking immediate help from the adult in charge and from you.
What saturates our minds colors our reactions, and that applies to kids as well as adults. Explain to your child why you monitor what they read, see, and why you need to know their friends. But you’re already doing this, right? Pray with your child each day, asking God to protect them, even if there isn’t a bully in their life at the moment. There’s great comfort for a child to hear their parent praying for them.
Trust is a key word in this discussion. Your child must trust you will be in their corner, ready to defend and protect them, even if it means facing the bully’s parents or a judge. This trust building begins the day you bring them home from the hospital, while you are always listening and available. Guarding. Guiding. Able to discern, by your child’s actions or attitudes, when they have a problem, or if they are the problem.
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” - (1 John 3:10)
Parenting isn’t a part-time birth-through-high-school occupation. It’s a full-time, life-long assignment given by God to husbands and wives. Children are gifts and blessings from Him, not nuisances. But these babies are little mimes who mimic what they see. What you want them to learn, they must see lived out in you each day.
“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul…and you shall teach them to your sons (and daughters), talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up…” - (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)
1. The Bully TalkBullying has invaded our schools, our homes, even our churches. Bullies are made, not born. Mom often quoted--Actions are caught, not taught. If you’re dealing with a bully, it’s probably learned behavior within their family, or attention seeking behavior. But if your child is being bullied make sure they understand they must act, not react, to remove themselves from the bully—seeking immediate help from the adult in charge and from you.
What saturates our minds colors our reactions, and that applies to kids as well as adults. Explain to your child why you monitor what they read, see, and why you need to know their friends. But you’re already doing this, right? Pray with your child each day, asking God to protect them, even if there isn’t a bully in their life at the moment. There’s great comfort for a child to hear their parent praying for them.
Trust is a key word in this discussion. Your child must trust you will be in their corner, ready to defend and protect them, even if it means facing the bully’s parents or a judge. This trust building begins the day you bring them home from the hospital, while you are always listening and available. Guarding. Guiding. Able to discern, by your child’s actions or attitudes, when they have a problem, or if they are the problem.
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” - (1 John 3:10)
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