You ever wonder what is next in the parenting world? I mean, you know that after about 16-18 months of being in the world, until about age four, your kid needs to master the idea of submitting to authority (The Lord knows that this is an area we work on throughout our whole life, but those first few years sure seem to be critical for establishing this).
And you know that it will all be re-tested when your children hit those blessed teenage years. There, as it has been reported to me, you will re-visit nearly every lesson AND THEN SOME about submitting to authority. But what on earth fills that ten year gap? How do you know what to focus on in those years so that, hopefully, the teen years are not a war-zone. I have a theory that some teenagers go off the deep end because of the rather "quiet" decade that falls in the middle. Parenting perhaps takes a back seat, while busy-ness and extra-curricular activities are driving the train. Those activities are not to blame, I don't think. And I am not talking about "bad parents, " here. I am talking about any and all parents, actually. I really think that it is a time of parenting that is quiet by nature, but there are seeds growing quietly in your child's heart that bear fruit in adolescence.
I have run across a book that really helps to give a road map of how to prepare your child in this decade (well, I guess it actually includes the period before and after the decade too). The book points very solidly to the Bible as the guide and opens your eyes up to parenting nuggets in the Bible that I never before saw . I am wondering if there is any interest out there (moms) in meeting at my house every other Tuesday evening to discuss what we are facing, and what the book is suggesting.
The book is called Parenting the Heart of Your Child by Diane Moore (not to be confused with Tedd Tripp's book Shepherding a Child's Heart). If the book or author sounds familiar, it might be because she spoke at Mom to Mom a could of years ago. Tedd Tripp's book was done in an 8 week study group a few years before that, for whatever that's worth...both books are must-reads.
Drop me a comment if you are interested. I would love to see this happen.
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2 comments:
Hmmm... I had never thought about that decade in between like that before. (Just a plug too - Diane will be speaking in a few weeks April 10 at M2M). Let me look at my schedule. I am interested. :)
Hi! I emailed you back, your sis said you might not have gotten it, so I will try again:)
I have Sheperding a Childs Heart, and am looking forward to reading it soon:)
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