Creative Discipline

by Melissa J | More from this Blogger

04 Apr 2007 02:11 AM

Each child is a masterpiece from God. Aside from some guidelines we've been given in the Bible, there is really no one-hundred percent reliable manual for raising these little ones. I believe every child requires creative parenting.

Prior to having children of my own, I worked in a preschool. I really felt it was great preparation for my children. While my husband and I were waiting to be parents, we read books, and took classes. We were determined to be prepared for whatever came our way.

I chuckle now because once our first son was placed with us, we were clueless in how to handle some of his behavioral issues. Though we were not against spanking, we found it was not effective with him. We needed to be more creative.

When our second son came to us, we thought for sure due to the challenges with our oldest, we'd become experts. Once again, we were wrong and found what worked for our oldest didn't always work on our youngest and vice versa.

Our church presented a class called Parenting with Love and Logic based on Foster Cline and Jim Fay's book of the same title. There are many Christian principles in this book that we found to be of great help! This book encourages parents to use logical life consequences to teach children to make better choices while they are younger and while the cost or risk is still small.

I've gathered some scriptures from the beginning of each chapter of this book I'd like to share:

• Proverbs 13:1 "A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke."

• Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

• Proverbs 20:11 "Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right."

• Proverbs 16:16 "How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver."

• Proverbs 12:18 "There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health."

• Proverbs 4:10 "Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many."

• Proverbs 23:15 "My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice-indeed, I myself; yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things."

• Proverbs 4:11-12 "I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble."

What I found neat about this style of parenting is the same concept can be applied to both of our children, but it leaves room to customize discipline according to what works for each child. As I look at the way the Lord has dealt with me, I see how I too have been disciplined by logical consequences. He warns us not to sin because of these things. I have found Parenting with Love and Logic overall to be based on principles of Christian teaching.

Please visit these related blogs:

Spanking: Sparing the Rod and Spoiling the Child

Seeing God as Our Father

We Know It's Wrong, So Why Do We Do It?

Parenting With Love and Logic

Scripture references are quoted from the NKJV.

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Dale Harcombe (10131) 18 Mar 2008 04:55 PM

What I like is that you have really thought about how to make parenting work and not taken the easy option. I have linked to it in my blog http://christian.families.com/blog/laziness-part-2-in-parenting

Dale Harcombe (10131) 18 Mar 2008 05:07 PM

What I like is that you have really thought about how to make parenting work and not taken the easy option. I have linked to it in my blog http://christian.families.com/blog/laziness-part-2-in-parenting