“Parents, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4
As we start a new school year, it’s important to go out of our way to encourage our children.
I’m so thankful not to be growing up in the age of social media. Online, our kids battle comparisons, being left out, and feeling like their lives are boring – when in reality, as we all know, most posts are staged to project people’s highlight reels.
In addition to social media, consider all the new issues facing our kids: gender identity, sexuality, and CRT to name a few. If they want to do the right thing by the Lord, they’re fighting a battle.
Add in the typical challenges kids have always faced – navigating thorny girl issues, guy stuff, bullies, the need to please teachers, assignments and homework (the list could go on) – and you quickly realize, it is a fierce fight. As such, our kids need our understanding and encouragement now more than ever.
Here are some practical ways we can encourage their hearts.
- Pray for them. I cannot stress this point enough – prayer is the most important thing we can do. My book Prayer Made Simple offers some specific ways to pray. Sneak peek of Prayer Made Simple
- Pray for their days together on the way to school.
- Make home a special place. Home should be a place of refreshment, where their souls can breathe. A place where real life happens. A soft place. A safe place. And yes, even a place with all their favorite foods!
- Join your child’s team. Don’t miss or dismiss the things that are important to them. They may seem trivial to us, but our kids need to know that what’s important to them is important to us too.
- Listen carefully. Look them in the eye when they’re talking. Listen to what they’re possibly not saying. This intentionality helps us to discern and read between the lines.
- Don’t exasperate them. Be careful not to irritate or discourage them with unreasonable demands.
- Realize that they may not want to talk after pick-up or upon arrival to home. Our kids need space to decompress and unwind from the battleground they’ve just exited. Yummy snacks can sometimes work wonders though in getting them to talk.
- Give grace but correct when they are wrong. Be firm and resolute. Train them to fear God and to know right from wrong. Teach and encourage them in the Scriptures without pounding a figurative Bible over their heads. Trust me, that can have the opposite intended effect and backfire.
- Never punish for accidents. You must discipline them when they do wrong but don’t discipline because of an accident. Accidents happen. Give lots of grace.
- See the big picture of parenting. Our children learn parenting skills by how we parent.
Whatever you do, go out of your way to encourage them. Not just at the start of school, but everyday that they are living in your home. Children are a gift. May we steward our parenting well.
PRAYING SCRIPTURES IS POWERFUL!
When you don’t know what to pray, God’s Word provides direction and power.
Praying His Word back to Him is the most effective way we can touch others and make a difference in our own lives.
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