Looking Back - By Thomas Sowell - (Excerpts) After my 85th birthday last week, I looked back over my life and was surprised to discover in how many different ways I had been lucky, in addition to some other ways in which I was unlucky. Among the things I did not know at the time was that I was adopted as an infant into a family with four adults, in which I was the only child. All sorts of research since then has shown how the amount of attention and interactions with adults a child gets has a lot to do with the way the child develops. But of course I knew nothing about such things back then. It was decades later, when I now had a son of my own that I asked one of the surviving members of the family how old I was when I first started to walk. She said, "Oh, Tommy, nobody knows when you could walk. Somebody was always carrying you."  ..."Although I was raised by people with very little education, they were people who wanted me to get an education. They praised my every little accomplishment when I was very young, and I was taught to read by the time I was four years old, taught by someone with only a few years of schooling herself. Years later, when I was promoted to the 7th grade, I was surprised by what a commotion it caused. Then I was told: "You have now gone further than any of us."

Instruction & Discipline: Driven by love, not in anger or frustration, but in love, to provide a foundational structure and a moral compass for a virtuous direction in life. This parental love should override the emotional excuse of guilt, if a working parent. Parental obligations need also to reject "being friends" with their children when providing direction.

Children - Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
- He that begets a fool does it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool has no joy. A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. Proverbs 17:21,25
- He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes. Proverbs 13:24
- Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Proverbs 22:15
- Withhold not correction from the child; for if you beats him with the rod, he shall not die.  Proverbs 23:13
- The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.  Correct your son, and he shall give you rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Proverbs 29:15,17
(...Or perhaps as a parent you believe Dr. Spock and Benjamin Siegel M.D. possess more wisdom than the Word of God?)

In Defense of Spanking By Bryan Fischer  - Adrian Peterson was right to spank, but wrong to break the skin. The star running back for the Minnesota Vikings is in trouble with the law and with the NFL for spanking his son with a switch, spanking him hard enough on the back of the legs to break the skin. There are photographs of the scabs that formed on the places where Peterson hit his son hard enough to cause bleeding. In the mad rush to hang Peterson from the nearest tree and further criminalize parenting, we will hear voices arguing that spanking itself is a form of child abuse. It isn't. In fact, the Bible indicates it is a form of child abuse to withhold corporal punishment when a child needs it.
   "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24). In other words, parents should never say to a child, "I love you, but I'm going to have to spank you." They should say, "Because I love you, I must spank you. I love you too much not to correct you when you need it." The purpose of discipline is to turn a child into an adult, who develops the capacity to make intelligent, mature, life-affirming choices because he has learned that making foolish, unwise and disobedient choices only brings pain. That's the way life works.
   The purpose of spanking in the life of a child is for him to connect disobedience with pain. He learns that sin is costly. This is why spanking should only be administered in cases of willful disobedience and not in cases of childish immaturity or accidents. Spanking is necessary because every child is a fallen, sinful, self-directed creature by birth. "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child," says Solomon in Proverbs 22:15, "but the rod drives it far from him." The writer of Proverbs, you will note, refers to a "rod" rather than to the parent's hand. This may be so the child associates discipline with an object rather than the hand of his parent. Thus the parents hands are only extended to the child to comfort or to help. Many parents have discovered that a wooden spoon works wonders. Applied to the bare bottom of a misbehaving child, it smarts, it stings, but it does not wound or bruise or break the skin. And trust me, kids get the point.

Raising Kids in Just 18 Summers - By Todd Starnes - My dear friend Michelle Cox has written a novel that every parent in America needs to read. It's called, "Just 18 Summers." She reminds us that we have just 18 summers before our children leave home. Just 18 summers. "I hope parents will realize how quickly those summers will fly by," she told me. "Take it from a mama whose sons are all grown now, someday you'd give a million dollars to walk down the hall one more time and tuck your children into bed, to kneel down and pray with them, to hear their footsteps and the sound of their laughter filling the house."
   ...Here's my interview with Michelle: Tell us about the event that inspired you to write Just 18 Summers. My pastor dedicated a baby at church one Sunday morning, and as the parents turned to leave the platform, Rev. Sexton said, "Don't forget you have just 18 summers. Go make some memories." The poignancy of that slammed into me, particularly since my youngest son was getting married a few weeks later.
   ...The first thing I thought of that day when I heard my pastor say those words was that I was glad we'd spent as much time as we did with our boys, but I wish there had been more. The second thought that hit me was to wonder if I had taught my son the important things he needed to know before he left home. I'm sure other parents can relate to that. I want to remind parents to enjoy the 18 summers before their children leave home, and I want to equip them with the tools and encouragement they need for the parenting journey, so on January 1, I launched the Just 18 Summers, parenting blog.
   ...Just 18 Summers isn't a guilt trip, it's a gentle wake-up call to remind parents that God has given us this precious gift, and those children will only be under our roofs for such a short time. What is the cultural impact when parents aren't actively involved with their children? Families are the cornerstone of our society and we have a lot of repair work to do. You don't have to watch the news for long to realize that a lack of parenting is having a big impact.
   ...You know, sometimes we as moms get a bit discouraged because we don't see how God could possibly use our efforts as moms as we clean house, and change diapers, and do laundry. but because a mother packed a lunch with five loaves and two fish, her child was part of a miracle.  

DAY CARE BLUES - By BILL MUEHLENBERG - Over 30 years ago social analyst Peter Drucker wrote this about the rise and rise of Western daycare, "We are busily unmaking one of the proudest social achievements in the nineteenth century, which was to take married women out of the work force so they could devote themselves to family and children." If he was rightly shocked back then by this development, his head would be reeling now. Today we have an entire generation of young people who are being raised by strangers, and not their own parents. While radical feminists and social engineers would applaud such changes, no one concerned about the wellbeing of children should.
   Sometimes a parent has no other choice in this regard, but far too often the wants of adults are trumping the needs of children in this debate. While adults at times may have a genuine need for the long-term care of their children elsewhere than home, this is seldom beneficial to the kids themselves. Based on decades of careful research on these issues, the simple truth is this: the younger a child is, and the more time he or she spends in formal daycare, separated from mother and father, the more likely that negative outcomes can occur. Indeed, plenty of studies have demonstrated the harmful results that such extended periods of formal care can have on young children. Consider one very recent Australian study which has once again confirmed all this.
   This is how one news item begins the story: Children who spend more than 21 hours a week in long daycare are at greater risk of performing below average in math, literacy and overall academic achievement, a new study finds.   
   ...A recent American study of 4000 children found that mothers who return to work soon after giving birth may harm their child's school performance. The study showed that children of mums who work full-time struggled academically compared with those whose mums stayed at home. Educational psychologist Burton White, director of the Harvard Preschool Project, has written extensively on the subject of nonparental care. This is how he summarizes his experience: "After more than 20 years research on how children develop well, I would not think of putting a child of my own into any substitute care program on a full-time basis, especially a center-based program."
   ...A system of child care subsidy could be established in which all parents receive benefits which they can choose to use as they wish. They could redeem it for care outside the home, or redeem it for cash if they choose to care for their own children at home. But something must be done to slow down this widespread unnatural and unhelpful separation of young children from their own biological parents.

Please Spank Your Kids by Joe Wurzelbacher - Recently, a California court has sided with a mother who was placed on a state child abuse database after spanking her 12-year-old daughter. She claimed a parental right to impose reasonable discipline on her child, who was slacking off in school. The court agreed: "Reasonable" corporal punishment is a legitimate disciplinary measure.
   ...Let me tell you, I was not always the greatest kid and my parents did what had to be done. They would talk with me, explain things and spend time with me and my brother. My parents were and are great role models but I'm here to tell ya I definitely got my behind whooped. Guess what? I deserved it. My dad was very serious about the whole thing. I would get into trouble, back-talking, or being disrespectful, which were both spanking offenses. He would send me to my room and I would have to wait patiently. Then he'd come in and explain why I was there, what I did wrong and what he expected of me in the future, often with a story where we would both laugh. Then he would stand up, take off his belt and I assumed the position. Afterwards we might talk just a bit longer and depending upon what I did to get into trouble in the first place I would either have to stay in my room longer or I was free to go. I never hated my dad for those spankings, it was obvious I was at fault.
   ...Then, like everything in this country, the liberals, academia and the do-gooders got involved. ...There's no one to wipe your nose out there and if you ask me, kids who grow up with a lack of discipline are the ones that have been abused. ...Anyone who owns a business or is in a position to train or hire employees knows you're lucky if you can just get somebody to show up on time, much less work hard all day for the sheer reason that working hard is its own reward. The entitlement mentality seems to have morphed into a default-mode for young adults in the age of Obama. Did poor parenting cause this? Yes.
   ...Which brings me to what I want to say: I was a service plumber for a long time, I went to lots of peoples homes and was amazed at what I saw.  I would see young children tell their parents no, and the parents did nothing, almost like they were helpless. I would see older children cuss and yell at their parents, and the parents would cuss and yell back or do nothing. Some parents would look at me and you could see the shame, while others really didn't care and no, these weren't bad parts of town. In fact it was quite the opposite, these were middle class, upper middle class and down right rich neighborhoods. Also from what I saw it was more white collar than blue."
   Side note, I never saw this happen in a house I went to where the children were being homeschooled. But before you go cuckoo on me, I suppose I have to say this: Am I proponent for spanking , Hell ya, Do I believe in Beatings, NO! Parents or a single parent seem to be more concerned with wanting their child to like them or being friends with them, or are too busy working two jobs to give a child the single most thing they crave: Discipline. Critics will quickly jump on that word and scream child abuse but you know that's not what I'm talking about. Kids love discipline and I'll give you proof which is easy to see.  

o Jeff Johnston Talks About How to Teach Your Children About Marriage by Bethany Monk - Focus on the Family has created "Teach Your Children About Marriage."
The two-part booklet provides myriad ideas on how to model healthy marriage to your children. It also offers practical applications for children at every age and stage. And it's free. Focus Marriage Analyst Jeff Johnston talked with CitizenLink about this new resource. ...For decades now, research has shown that children with a married mother and father do best physically, emotionally and psychologically. They're less likely to get involved with substance abuse or crime, and they do better in school. Marriage between a man and a woman is one of the best ways to combat poverty. We care about children, so we want to promote an environment where they do best.
   ...You can't assume any more that your kids will grow up understanding what marriage is, the union of a man and a woman. And you can't assume they'll know why marriage matters: It's a foundational building block for society; children do best with a married mother and father; and healthy marriages are the best way to combat poverty and a whole host of social problems, crime, drug abuse, educational problems. So our team worked to create a creative, user-friendly tool to help parents understand God's design for marriage, help them model a healthy marriage to their kids and give them ideas for talking to their children about marriage.
Christian marriages and families can be an example of healthy living. They don't have to be perfect, but we can model how to deal with conflict, how to treat each other, forgiveness, working together, commitment and faithfulness.
   ...A large part of the culture has moved away from a Christian sexual ethic, it's like we are a post-Christian or pagan society. Just look at some examples from popular culture in the past couple months: On Thanksgiving, Lady Gaga was featured on "The Muppets" singing with a drag queen The Macy's parade had a dance performance from "Kinky Boots," a Broadway show about a shoe factory that makws boots for drag queens On the first of the year, the Rose Parade included two men getting married on top of a float Just this last week the Grammy Awards broadcast a mass wedding, with same-sex couples If your children or grandchildren are watching this, say they're just watching the Rose Parade, they're seeing a gay wedding. Our culture is inculcating our children with sexual confusion and sexual brokenness.
   ..."Teach Your Children About Marriage" starts out at a real basic level, parents interacting with their children and teaching them that God's design for marriage is a man and a woman, in a committed, permanent relationship.  

Raising Children of Light in a Culture of Darkness by Matt Barber - "I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths." --R.C. Sproul ...I submit that "raising Christian children in today's culture" and "training champions for Christ" are one in the same, and that both fruitful endeavors stem from the same rich soil.   Truth.   But what is today's culture exactly? What is a champion for Christ? And, perhaps most importantly, what, or Who, is truth?   Merriam Webster's defines "champion" as, someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause, etc." It is not merely a passing suggestion that Christian parents and educators train champions for Christ. It's a command given us by God Himself: "Start children off on the way they should go (train them), and even when they are old they will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
   ...The Apostle Paul admonishes in Romans 1:16 that we should not be "ashamed of the gospel," but, rather, should "Do [our]  best to present [ourselves] to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).   In addition to leading by example, this means steeping Christian children and young people in the "word of truth," the Holy Scriptures, and equipping them, in love, to champion (to "fight or speak publicly in support of") the infallible, unchangeable and absolute truths found therein.   This is so even when the absolute truths of Scripture have become unpopular in a world that prefers the absolute lie of relativism.
   ...When the light of Christ is shined, it sends lovers of evil scurrying for the shadows.   For this reason, Christ warned, "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22).   In a culture that slaughters the unborn, mocks purity, celebrates sexual sin and makes a joke out of the institution of marriage by imagining sin-based counterfeits, it remains a daunting task for Christian parents to raise children with both the courage and conviction to stand unashamed for God's truth. From an earthly standpoint, it seems counterintuitive to both welcome and find joy in being hated by the world.
   ...It boils down to instilling in our children a biblically orthodox Christian worldview, that is to say, absolute truth. Anything else is nothing at all. ...If steeped in scripture, children, even the prodigal child, may be pulled under and tied down for a time by relativism's glittery allure. But when the relativist rope rots, fear not, for those who have been fastened to "the way, the truth and the life," who is Christ, will burst back into the light.   And then what champions they will be.   

Christian Parents Try New Strategy to Help Millennials Grow Up --/Christian Newswire/ -- It's a question that nags at every parent: "Have I successfully prepared my child for life on their own?" Just One More Thing is a practical guide to help teens transition out of their parents' home and into the rest of their lives. When the Gudgels' oldest child reached his senior year of high school, they began to get a little frantic. "It started as an experiment," said David Gudgel about his book. "I wanted to make sure I had done my best to teach my son about the hard topics of life." So Author & Pastor David Gudgel wrote out a list of topics to discuss with his son over Saturday breakfasts throughout that year. Kind of a last minute effort to be a really good parent. According to his son it was a surprisingly great experience, so the Gudgels repeated the process with their other two children. Then others began asking for the lessons to use with their kids too. And the result was the book Just One More Thing: Before You Leave Home.

New Publishing Company Equips Parents to Teach Kids About Christ --/Christian Newswire/ -- Will we have wings in heaven? Will the boy in my class who doesn't believe in God go to Hell? Does God really have a beard? These are just examples of the many questions parents regularly get asked by their kids about religion. And while church and Sunday school can be a vital place for little ones to learn about God, do parents have enough resources to share with young children about Christ in the home? Graham Blanchard is a start-up publishing company founded by writer and educational content developer Callie Grant to encourage and equip parents to actively teach their children about the love and character of God. Grant, a former member of the Scholastic Inc. development team in Palo Alto, Calif., founded the company after struggling to find trade books for her young daughter to help nurture a firmer foundation with God in the important early years. It was then she decided to combine her knowledge of educational publishing with her passion for sharing God's love with children, and formed Graham Blanchard Inc. (For more information please visit www.grahamblanchard.com.) 

Bible ranks low as resource for parenting Allie Marin - OneNewsNow - A survey finds that while most parents want to improve their parenting skills, few look to the church or God's Word for guidance. The survey was conducted by LifeWay Research, the research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. According to the results, 96 percent of parents said they try to be better parents. However, 60 percent of parents use their own experiences as the primary source of guidance when it comes to parenting. And only 14 percent said they are very familiar with what the Bible says about parenting.

D.L. Moody stated: "It is a masterpiece of the devil to make us believe that children cannot understand religion. Would Christ have made a child the standard of faith if He had known that it was not capable of understanding His words?"

Mark 10:13-14 - And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.