5 Parenting Skills

Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting in on an Orange Leaders Lunch (orangeleaders.com) at Merlo Park Presbyterian Church in the Bay Area hosted by Sue Miller (formerly of Willow Creek). The main theme of the lunch was brainstorming how to equip parents to take the spiritual reigns in a student's life. We were given 5 parenting tips that will help families and parents. I'm keeping these for when I have kids! They are taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which reads: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Here are the 5 Parenting Skills that Carey Nieuwhof from Connexus Community Church is writing a book about. 1. Imagine the End This can be summarized by "keeping your eyes on the prize." If you start with the end in mind and you keep your eyes pointed that way you can weather storms and build the necessary steps now to accomplish that goal. 2. Make It Personal Put your own spiritual growth before you kids. If you don't have a vibrant relationship with Christ, how can you show it to your kids? 3. Create a Rhythm Make a quantity of quality time. Find those small moments through the day to encourage, pray with, pray for, give scripture to, and be the loving parent you want to be with your kids. 4. Fight For the Heart Sometimes parents (and teachers, and small group leaders, and church leaders, and and and) want to be "right" on the rules, but we forget to keep our cool. We forget that over-reacting actually pushes them away. Discipline with a reminder that you still love them is important. Always remind them that you love them. 5. Multiply Strategic Influences Ever heard of the 5-to-1 ratio. The theory is that every kid needs at least 5 adults who care about them and who are willing to share biblical truth and life principles with them. If your kid listens to and loves his best friend's dad, ask that dad to share some biblical truths and life principles with him. I'll be watching for that book!

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