INTENTIONAL PARENTING

-By Kemi Samuel

DEUTERONOMY 6; 7: You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.

Being a parent is a privilege that we must not take for granted.

Parenting is a calling and a commandment from God,. It is a full-time job that involves the parent looking inward into his or her way of life. Parenting requires faith because it sometimes seems as though the correction you are giving is not being heeded. .Parenting requires prayers, and your care for your spiritual growth is essential

Take a cue from God’s way of parenting us; He loves us and cares about us but He does not allow us to set the rules or agenda for ourselves.

Many of us parents have handed over control of the family to the children. All they have to do is throw tantrums and they get what they want.

Many parents are operating with a faulty model of parenting and think that in order to have a happy relationship with their children they must always be happy and have ALL of their needs met.

The aforementioned may also produce a set of selfish, irresponsible, lazy, ungrateful and emotional insecure children.

FACTORS AGAINST PARENTING:

1) Unsaved Parents: When you as the parent are at loggerheads with God the Father, it will be difficult to exhibit the love of a parent to your children .Make peace with Jesus; serve Him in holiness and allow Him to parent you as well.

2) Wrong Environment: For parenting to be effective; there should not be any distraction and hostility at home. Parenting is against enrolling your child into a school based on ambience rather than on Christian values; a volatile environment for abuse, violence, prostitution, indecent dressing, and ungodly music.

Create an environment of love and Godliness for your child.

3) Absence of Training: Many parents’ jobs of training are being done by TV, house help, social media, etc

Parental training cannot be done by proxy. Training should involve practical. And being available to witness the practical of what you teach them is very important.

4) Absence of Teaching: Gen 18: 19, be available to teach the word of God, basic morals, your dialects, house chores, etc.

5) Monitoring: Leaving a child to his or her self is dangerous .Monitoring is very important after teaching, prayers, training etc.

6) Lack of Firmness and Fairness: In order to be raised into a well-balanced adult, a child needs both firmness and fairness. .

If you are only firm, the child grows up thinking the world hates him and will be fearful. Being fair alone makes the child a spoilt and selfish adult.

7) Access to Phone: The internet provides so many temptations that it takes maturity and godliness not to succumb to them. A child under 18 does not need a personal phone yet. There are so many temptations on the internet that avoiding them requires maturity and godliness. A minor does not yet require a personal phone.

8) Bad Marriage: Work on your marriage as it gives children security and eliminates the desire to look for love outside of the family. Stop fighting with your spouse!

TYPES OF PARENTING

* Parenting by Hope: (when pregnant)

* Parenting by Age

* Parenting by Gender

SEASONS OF CHILDREN

Season of innocence

Season of self-discovery

Season of realisation

Season of formation

Season of departure from parent.

Every of the aforementioned season has its own challenges which every parent needs to be equipped to handle.

Children grow by NATURE but are raised by NURTURE. Please raise yours!