PART 1

Five Things to Teach Your Kids
by Laurel on September 22, 2008

If you are a parent, raising good kids is one of your chief concerns. I don’t claim to be an expert in this; I have made my share of mistakes. If you look on the shelves in bookstores you will see a whole aisle on disciplining your child, how to hand the difficult child or books that help you become a better parent. I have read these books too. Some parents rely on the church to teach their kids or worse yet, the school system. All school and church can do is reinforce what is already being taught at home. I believe as a country we are struggling because our family unit is struggling.

Parenting comes down to five basic principles.
If these five basic principles become your foundation in parenting, you will have developed deep roots that are needed to weather any storm that may come. I will be covering these five principles in the next few days and would love your thoughts on each one also.

The first basic principle of raising good kids is teaching them the principle of love. God is the model of love, everything he did was because of love. There are several ways to make sure you develop this principle of love. This foundation of horizontal love will strengthen the love they have with the Father. How do we do that? (And I know some of this might be obvious, but as I said before, our country is struggling because our families are struggling.) Parents develop the principle of love by modeling love in their everyday actions.

Displaying love between a husband and a wife.
The love towards others when they are not perfect and make mistakes.
The love of putting someone else’s needs before our own.
The love towards someone who is hurting.
And love displayed towards someone who appears to be unlovable.
Your child will first learn horizontal love; the act of loving people around them. And their horizontal love will determine the strength of their vertical love with the heavenly Father. If we struggle with horizontal love, then we struggle with vertical love. This is why God sent his son here on earth, so we would have the model of perfect horizontal love so we can love the Heavenly Father.

What is your family atmosphere like? Is there love or turmoil? Does your child see you and your husband being affectionate towards one another? The security a child develops is often developed by what they see displayed. Has your child witnessed you loving someone who was being difficult? Or do they hear you complain about the other person behind closed doors? Have you shown compassion towards someone who was hurting while your child was a witness.

The principle of love is one of the first things that should be taught in the home. This is not something that can be taught at church or at school. Your child will display love dependent on what they witness you as the parent doing. Come back for principle two later this week….


What are your thoughts on horizontal love affecting a child’s vertical love towards their Heavenly Father?