Training Up Tuesday: Are You Raising Children that You Would Want to Be Friends With?

Have you every asked yourself that question? I certainly have.

Parenting was never intended to be brain science (did I spell that right). But, if you are like me, at times, I have made it a very complicated job, instead of using my God given common sense.

So, today I thought I would share with you a tool I use on a daily basis that helps me keep parenting simple. Follow me...





Yep, that's it! That little pink sheet of paper is my Parent's Checklist. My mother-in-law gave it to me a number of years ago. This checklist offers me an opportunity to make an impact on my children's lives every time I open the fridge. (And that happens often in my house. That is why I hung it there!) Let me show you why.

Some of the items are easy: I do these everyday

• Read to my child (Proverbs 4:1-4)


• Sing or listen to music with my child (Psalm 8:2)

Some of them, not so much:

• Did not punish my child when I was angry (Psalm 103:8-14)


• Forgave my child immediately (2 Corinthians 2:7-8)


• Modeled only the attributes I want my child to emulate (1 Corinthians 4:16)
  

The beauty of the list is that it really challenges me on a daily basis to evaluate not my children's actions but my own. And what I found as I started to incorporate these small things into my daily routine was that the parenting comes in the little moments with my children.

So, here is what I am asking you to do, a challenge per say. Print a copy of the Checklist and put it somewhere you frequent often. Start to incorporate the items on the checklist into your day, and see if parenting becomes a little less complicated.

We might have many goals for our children, but in the end, I really want my boys to be godly friends. I've realized that starts with me.