Soul Care #26: Parenting

Boy, do I need this one!

From research on affair prone marriages, healthy families have:
1) low conflict (not that you avoid it, but not continual damaging conversation)
2) high emotional warmth- vulnerability and intimacy
3) high pleasure/fun

The key task in parenting is to guide them on the path from foolishness to wisdom. From "my way is the best way" to "God's way is the best way." This of course is extremely difficult for parents, because the parent is still on the journey themselves!

Godly parenting is not formulaic, but reflective and geared towards the make up of each child. God doesn't wire each kid the same, and we as parents must give different things (responses, discipline, etc...) to different kids.

God has both 1)holiness/justice and 2)love/mercy/grace is His character. As we seek to model our parenting after the ultimate Parent, we must live in this tension between structure/order and tenderness/nurture/love.

To be continued...