About the Author

Tim Swanson knows first-hand that the Bible is true and that Jesus Christ really God and Savior. God gave Tim an alive heart and faith in Jesus Christ two days after his 20th birthday. Ever since then, Tim’s life has been purposeful, changed and forgiven.

When God called Tim from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, He gave him a mission to help young people and adults learn about Jesus and learn how to live truth-filled lives.

Tim’s desire is that you examine every piece of parenting philosophy that you believe and root out all of the untruth, replacing it with God’s parenting truth. He wants you to raise your child to obey and glorify God in the midst of a generation that hates to obey and only glorifies itself. Your parenting philosophy and activities today will ripple through effecting many generations to come.

Copyright Information

This book is copyrighted by Tim Swanson © 2013. Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version and are copyrighted Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Cover design by Don Jewett. Cover photo by Gina Swanson.

This book may not be reproduced without written permission from the copyright holder.

1st Edition: 2013

ISBN: 978-1-63068-189-0
www.DoTheTrue.com
Like the Facebook page: http://goo.gl/sYzPw

Table of Contents

What Will Your Legacy Be?

The Beginning, Middle And End

Bible Training

God Chose You

Training Your Child

Do You Have Your Child’s Heart?

Raising Up Stewards

Managing Your House

Clean And Scheduled

The Grand Adventure

What Will Your Legacy Be?

I’m writing this little book to you because my heart is to help you to be a godly parent. You’ll be challenged in your thinking about parenting. But, you will also be encouraged. If you are a Christian, you will have the encouragement of the Holy Spirit to build a God-honoring home.

As a parent, you are in a very powerful position. You can either destroy the lives of your children and grandchildren or you can bless their lives. What you do in the next week, month, 18 years will either create a legacy of godliness and diligence or it will fester a future of laziness and immorality.

“The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:60-7.

God is presenting you with a choice. You can either sin against Him by not raising your child God’s way. Or, you can obey God by raising your child the way He wants you to. If you choose sinful parenting, you will grow a culture of rebellion into your offspring. If you choose Godly parenting, you will build a Biblical legacy for your grandchildren.

The Vision video: http://youtu.be/dTnKWyFQmCU

The Beginning, Middle and End

What I’m going to tell you in the next sentence is so profound that it permeates the beginning, middle and end of your parenting. You must read the Bible together as a family every day.

The Bible gives the responsibility for being the spiritual leader of the family to the dad. If you are the dad, you can’t punt on this one. You have to get out the Bible and start reading it to your family every day. Under your leadership, your wife will begin read the Bible to your child throughout the day. But, the Bible squarely places you, Dad, as the guy who is in charge of knowing the Bible well enough to teach both your child and your wife. Wow! That is some responsibility. Why, yes it is! Put down the cold beverage and reach for your Bible. Hit record on Sunday football and head to church every Sunday. God has said in His book of ultimate truth that you are responsible for being the Bible teacher for your family. And, it all starts with you reading the Bible out loud every day to your family.

Mom! If you don’t have a godly man in the house, you are going to be the one reading the Bible out loud to your child every day. If your man is a Christian but won’t lead, you start praying for him to lead. In the meantime, read the Bible to your child every day, several times a day.

If your husband is leading, support him by telling him how much you appreciate it and by being ready to listen when he’s reading. You multitask most of your day. Take a break from that during family worship. Help your husband by listening and encouraging.

As full-time mom, the Bible is so important that you should begin your day with Bible reading, lunch break with the Bible open, and end your child’s day with the Bible reading.

So, where do I start? Make your child’s earliest memories you reading the Bible to him. Read Bible stories to your child from age-appropriate picture books. That’s essential! But, make sure to read the Bible to your child. Sing Bible songs with your child. Contact me if you want some recommendations.

Here is an idea for family worship:

1. Sing The B.I.B.L.E.

2. Sing a Bible song or watch a Christian song on video and sing with it.

3. Read a small section of the Bible. Try for at least 8-10 verses.

4. Pick one or two key points from those verses and tell your family. Try to give an example that applies to your daily life.

5. Read a few verses from Proverbs and talk about one of the key points.

6. Pray for your child to love Jesus, have a new heart and believe that Jesus died for his sins.

Family worship or Bible Time can last from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. If you are going kind of long, have everyone stand up and sing a Bible song. If your child is old enough to start thinking and talking, ask some questions. Don’t stress about the length. Over time, you’ll read through the gospels together. You’ll read through the Proverbs and the Psalms. The point is to spend time in the Bible together daily and pray for God’s help in understanding and applying His truth.

Disciple Your Kids video: http://youtu.be/VyfOPPK_Kh0

Bible Training

As a parent, you naturally have ideas about raising kids. The problem is that your ideas have a mixture of truth and lies swirled together. Your ideas are a product of advice, ideas, habits and things you’ve seen. There is some truth to what you believe. And, there is some wrong thinking woven in. This is why, if you raise your children your own way, they will grow up and pass that wrong thinking onto your grandchildren and great grandchildren. God knows exactly how you should raise your children. He’s told you in the Bible.

The Bible says that we are born spiritually dead and that our spiritual heart is constantly deceiving us into thinking that we are right. This is a problem because kids and adults think that they are right most of the time. For example, our culture says that children are basically good. The Bible teaches that children have sinful hearts and need to be trained to live a godly life.

The Bible is absolutely true and tells you how your children should live. So, you need to make Bible training a significant part of your child training. The Bible is meant to be used throughout every day. You train your child how to live a Godly, righteous life.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The key word here is instruction. Instruction in what? Instruction in how to be righteous. That means that from our child’s earliest hours we are teaching him how to live life God’s way. This is called living a morally pure life.

Start by reading to your baby simple Bible stories throughout the day. Take your baby to church every Sunday and hold him during church service. Sing Bible songs to your baby and play baby praise songs on your music device. As your child gets older, talk about all of the things that God is doing in his life. When he is naughty, tell him what God has to say about that action. From your child’s earliest moments, you should be singing to him, praying with him and reading the Bible to him.

Truth Hooks video: http://youtu.be/wJ6klFKXADQ

God Chose You!

These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9

After giving His commandments about how His people should live, God gave this command to parents. We are to know God’s commandments by heart and teach them carefully and diligently to our children. God’s commandments are basically how to live a God-honoring life. We are to plaster God’s word all over our houses, memorize the verses with our family and apply the Bible to our child’s life.

God’s plan for your life is for you to spend your days teaching and mentoring your child in how to know and obey God’s commandments. You are not to just give your child knowledge, but you are to train him to do that knowledge. This is called wisdom. Wisdom is to do the truth.

Both dads and moms are given this charge from God. Dad is responsible for making sure that this happens, but both parents are involved in teaching and applying God’s commandments as a lifestyle. This is one of the reasons why you should not send your child to day care, while mom goes to work. You are the person to whom God has given the responsibility to instruct your child in godliness. You can’t afford to give up this time that your child desperately needs with you to learn how to live life God’s way. You are the ones that God has commanded to raise your children in a lifestyle of loving and obeying God. Don’t delegate this responsibility because God gave you the command.

This is the main reason why my wife and I educate our children at home. We want our kids to grow up with a rock solid understanding of God and His plan for their lives. We want them to understand the world around them in a truth-filled way. We know our children’s talents and struggles. We have our children’s hearts and they listen to us. God has given us the job to grow our children in the knowledge and application of His truth in every area of their lives. For us, schooling is not only about academics. Education is about teaching the fear of God and the application of His commandments in their lives in the context of reading, writing, science, social studies, PE, art and music.

We live debt-free and semi-thrifty lives so that we can provide a healthy home on one income. Our children are growing up seeing that we don’t need two incomes and that we don’t need the government to give us money and food. Instead, they see God provide more than enough money and resources for us on one income, while we model for our children Godly household economics.

The point I want to resonate in your soul as you finish this chapter is that your entire life is a life-lesson that you are living out in front of your child. You are his teacher. You are his mentor. Your life habits, values and beliefs will become his. You only have a small window of time in which to accomplish this. The time is now.

What My Parents Did Right video: http://youtu.be/OLGGo1vW6WQ

Training Your Child

Training your child starts from your earliest moments and extends until he leaves your home. How you react to your child and how you train your child to behave will either garden a beautiful flower or grow a thistle. Train your child to obey you the first time. Do this by consistently, lovingly training your child to obey you every time, the first time.

You are preparing your child to obey God with his life. So, when he is young, you tell your child what to do. Grow in your child a submissive heart towards you. As he gets older, he’ll start to obey God on his own and you can begin to gradually release your control. For the first 5 or 6 years, you are making almost all of the decisions for your child. You’ll start to ease off slightly as he starts to use wisdom in his choices. By the time your child is an adolescent, you’ll be easing off your dictating and becoming a guide. If your child can’t make wise decisions, you have to tighten up the control.

Lately, parents have taken to giving kids lots of choices. This feels like a good training tool but actually can harden the child’s heart towards authority. Instead of asking your child to obey you or giving him choices, just give him direct instructions. For example, “Would you like to sit at the table for dinner?” should be said, “Come sit at the table for dinner.” As stated in the last paragraph, by the time your child is an adolescent, you will be able to give more choices. But, you should never ask a question if your expectation is obedience.

Infant: Your child needs to know you love him. There are two ways that you can show your infant that you love him. Give lots of love and give structure. There is one thing to remember here and that is not to reward temper and angry crying.

Baby: Continue to give your baby tons of love and a predictable schedule. Don’t reward angry crying. As your baby becomes more mobile, you need to be in control of his movements. You should tell your baby no and start to bend his will to obey you.

Toddler: Your child hitting you, telling you no or ignoring you is sin because he is not treating you respectfully. If you allow these sinful habits to get a grip on your child, you are feeding his sinful nature. Your baby disobeying you isn’t cute, just like your disobeying God isn’t cute. Keep your child on a schedule and tackle the disobedience. Don’t tolerate disobedience, such as him telling you no or throwing food on the floor on purpose. Shower your little person with love and require obedience. When he disobeys you, spank his bare bottom with a wooden spoon. There are five basic rules for spanking:

1. Spank your child on the bottom only and only for disobedience.

2. Be as consistent and as immediate as you can be.

3. Don’t spank when you are angry or frustrated.

4. Explain that God tells him to obey you and that, when he doesn’t obey you, he’ll get a spanking.

5. Always have your child ask for you to forgive him and then pray and ask for God to forgive him.

Teach your child to obey the first time. The default is that your child learns to obey the fourth time when you’ve lost your temper. Or, the third time when you are feeling frustrated. If you teach your child to obey the first time, you will prepare him to obey God. Don’t give up on this one. Always insist on immediate obedience with a happy heart. Be consistent and timely in your discipline.

Twos-Threes: You need to be extra vigilant during this period because your child will develop some bad habits. He’ll get picky about what he wants to eat. Some throw temper tantrums. Be calm but be firm. With the food, give him small portions that he can eat and insist that he eats it. Don’t allow him to decide what he’s going to eat. As when he was a toddler, don’t allow him to tell you no. Don’t let him back talk you or talk sassy to you. It isn’t cute. It will produce a hardened heart towards you and eventually towards God. If your three year-old throws temper tantrums, don’t dial into the emotion. Remain calm and spank. Then, take a 20 minute break. Re-enter the tantrum again and spank. As you do this, you’ll see an eventual decrease in the ferocity and length of the temper tantrums. If your child starts to hold his breath or starts to become overly agitated in the tantrum, lovingly use cold water to bring down the level of the tantrum. It is not healthy for your child to allow himself to lose control. Self-control is a godly habit that you must always be working towards. You’ll see the tantrums lessen in their intensity and length.

If your child has to only obey on his terms, this isn’t obedience. Fight this battle and win. This kind of rebellion will rear its ugly head at different times. It is subtle but you can feel and see the rebellion. Deal with it. If your child will only eat a certain kind of food, wait it out and insist that he eats the small age-appropriate portion you give him. If you love your child, you will not allow him to manipulate you into partial obedience. Partial obedience is actually full disobedience.

You see this next one all of the time. A parent reaches for a child and the child pulls away. That is sin. Nip that in the bud. If you tell your child to do something verbally or nonverbally, you must follow through and train him to obey you immediately with a happy heart. Don’t ignore it because you feel socially awkward. Lovingly insist on immediate behavior.

Fours-adolescent: This is the time when your relationship with your children should be really blooming. You’re spending tons of time together living life together. You are working on your child having a soft, kind heart towards you. You continue to tell your child what to do, but you begin to loosen up as he becomes more able to make godly decisions. All of your structure and scheduling will be paying off now. Your child will be in the habit of obeying you and respecting you. You will still see rebellion rear its ugly head. Deal with the heart cause for that rebellion. Read the Bible to your child multiple times during the day and pray against the sin that he is inclined towards.

Teenagers: This is a period when you have to really focus on keeping your child’s heart. Don’t give your child over to be parented by his peers or by neighbors. You stay involved in all aspects of his life. Your job is to transfer the control from yourself to him in the next 5 years. Walk with him and tackle the issues together. Don’t allow your child to become rebellious or snappy with you. Instead, garden a kind, soft heart. Don’t allow a silent, surly teen who is self-absorbed. Instead, insist on a polite, kind teen who is considerate of others.

You must provide a context for your teenager to use his talents and gifts. If you don’t, his default might be counterproductive activities. You can open the door to addictions, attitudes and bad influences. Be deliberate about providing a social, work and ministry context for your child in his teen years. The two biggest factors during this period will be time together and Biblical training.

No matter where you are in your parenting, remember this: Your child has a wicked heart and needs Jesus Christ to take away all of his sins and give him a new heart, a heart that wants to obey God. Your child needs the Holy Spirit to start to change him from the inside out. Following Christ is a lifestyle that begins at the cross and extends into eternity.

Your job is to build godly habits and a submissive heart into your child. God’s job is to save your child and give him strength to obey you. You tell your child what to do and don’t allow his rebellion to rule. Garden a kind and submissive heart into your child.

Stress-Free Parenting video: http://youtu.be/CVstdD15ucM

Do You Have Your Child’s Heart?

Your child will grow up a product of the influences to which you give him access. There is a battle in this world against you. It is a battle for your child’s heart and mind. Whoever gets your child’s heart automatically gets his mind. You are the one to whom God has given the responsibility to influence your child’s heart.

Look at your house with a critical eye. Something as simple as Disney can develop a sassy attitude in your child. Your complaining can give your child a moody, cynical attitude. If you allow your children to call each other stupid and argue, you’ll see the sin of pride and self-centeredness blossom into violence. The curriculum at your child’s school can give him a disdain for the Bible simply because it presents God as unnecessary for life. Your obsession with sports, internet or hobbies can turn his heart from valuing God.

Look at your garage and your lifestyle. What is the message that you are giving your child? Do you love sports and free time better than you love God? Do you love God more than you love camping and shopping? Something as simple as giving your child too many toys can create a selfish heart.

Your child will respond to the evil influences quickly because your child has a sinful nature that loves sin. Your job is to limit the evil influences and promote the godly influences. You are growing a child who is designed to love God and obey Him. You have a limited window of time in which to train a Biblical worldview into your child. You must teach him God’s truth and train him in how to apply the truth. This discipleship is daily and deliberate.

Christianity and Biblical parenting is a lifestyle that spans from birth to twenty. What you spend your money and time and resources on will be what your child gives his heart to. If you spend your money, time and resources on God and being a Biblical family, your child will grow up with these values cemented into him.

You will have your child’s heart if you:

1. Spend immense amounts of time with your child.

2. Lovingly discipline and train your child in every aspect of his life.

3. Teach your child the Bible and help him understand how the Bible applies to daily life, science, history and career.

4. Guard your child’s heart from the anti-God input from the world.

Make a quick list of what inputs you are inviting into your child’s heart. Which need to go?

Parenting a Kind and Obedient Heart video: http://youtu.be/D1Jz4Y6l8ys

Raising Up Stewards

God has given humanity the task of stewarding His creation. We are to use all of His resources in ways that will honor God. The problem is that rebellion against our Creator has brought friction and obstacles into this work. We have to learn how to handle the stress, reduce the waste and maximize the benefits. This process is called taking dominion over the resources God has given us. We spend our whole lives taking dominion over our skills, talents, resources, time and the environment we live and work in. We plant, grow, harvest and market using the resources God has given us.

From your child’s earliest moments, you are preparing him to contribute to this lifelong process of taking dominion through stewardship.

Body: Your child’s body must be stewarded. You must structure his day so that he gets plenty of exercise and a regular night’s sleep. Make exercise a normal part of your family’s day and have an 8:30 bedtime. You need to insist on him eating a balanced diet and eating age-appropriate portions. This is an issue of training. It is unhealthy for your family to be eating prepackaged foods. You must show your child that diet is important to you by taking time to meal plan, shop, prepare and cook healthy, balanced meals. Limit the candy, chips and sugar drinks to one portion a day or even a week. Have your child brush his teeth at least twice a day and floss once a day. By about age 7, your child should be showering and changing clothes every day.

Food: As your child grows older, food will be a key indicator of his understanding of resource stewardship. His eating habits and wastefulness need to be tightly managed by you until he can demonstrate that he values resources and understands portion control.

Time: Stewardship of time boils down to you taking control of your child’s schedule. Teach your child how to prioritize activities. Before he goes to bed at night have him write a task list for the next day. Walk with him through these tasks the next day. These lessons in time management have to be modeled by you. You have been given a limited amount of time here on this earth to accomplish all of the good works that God has planned out in advance for you to do. There really is very little time for video games, television, DVDs and social media. Remember, your child will take on your habits, both good and bad.

Talents: Your child has natural talents that you must identify and develop. For example, your child might be really talented in encouraging others. You must facilitate activities where he can develop this talent. As a family, write cards for a friend or relative who is sick and deliver them. If your child is skilled in bossing people around, you must teach him servant leadership. Put him in charge of a family activity and help him organize the activity. Make a list of your child’s top talents. Make a plan to grow those talents. Start to plan for creating opportunities for him to use these talents in his teen years.

Will: Your child’s will is one of his most powerful resources. From the womb, your child has one king that he wants to serve with that will, himself. Your job is to help him take dominion of his will and bend his will to serve God. All of your training and discipline must point your child towards willingly obeying God. He obeys you the first time with a happy heart because, in doing so, he is obeying God.

Finances: Financial stewardship is both modeled and mentored. Start mentoring finances by growing productivity in your child. Goals and to-do lists are the building blocks for productivity. As your child hits his elementary years, teach him how to be productive and diligent. Give him a goal to work towards, like to keep his toys in the appropriate bins and keep a clean room. Type up this goal and post it on his wall. Every day, help him carve out time to keep on top of this goal. Every evening, help your child write a short to-do list for the next day. As he gets older, help him to prioritize his lists.

Financial stewardship involves saving and spending. Regarding saving, set some goals for your child and help him start saving. It could be that he saves $1 out of every $10, for example. If he breaks something in the house, have him save to replace it. If he wants something special, help him save to purchase it. With regards to spending, you want to help your child lay up his treasure in heaven. Teach him how to tithe a tenth of his allowance and birthday gifts. This lifelong habit will help your child be less self-centered and more dependent on God. Finally, as a family, invest in missions. Sponsor children, orphanages, missionaries and mission projects. Hang up pictures, watch videos, write letters and draw pictures to send to your missionaries and sponsored children. Save money as a family and invest in the two or three ministries that your family is passionate about. Where ever your child invests his money, his heart will follow.

Help your child understand about avoiding debt, setting goals, investing in God’s kingdom, and saving for the future. Read through Proverbs with your child about once a year, highlighting the verses on diligence and financial stewardship. Most importantly, openly discuss and model your financial decisions with your child. Help him understand why you don’t have a car payment. Help him make the connection between wasting resources and wasting finances and vice versa.

Stewardship: Parenting is a full time job because you must have your child stewarding his talents, time, resources and environment on his own by his late teens. Two factors are critical: 1. Having a relationship with your child. 2. Having a hold on his heart. You must create life activities wherein he can practice stewardship. You must integrate all of your training into his life and help him apply it.

Relational Parenting video: http://youtu.be/km89kHPR844
Easy As Pie Parenting video: http://youtu.be/IqSO6GB7Bxw

Managing Your House

When you read the Bible, you’ll find that God likes order and schedules. In the Old Testament, God had a lot to say about organization and cleanliness in His instructions for the nation of Israel. He told them how and where to live, and gave them many rules about being clean and orderly. God’s church was set up in a very orderly manner. Think about how you imagine Heaven. Do you imagine piles of junk all over God’s kitchen counter? Do you imagine dirty dishes hardening in Gabriel’s sink? If you opened up Jesus’ refrigerator, would you find grime and stale vegetables? Sanitation and organization are important to God, and as such, they are important for our physical and emotional health.

In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve the job of taking dominion in the earth and making the environment productive for humanity. Six thousand years later, we have the same job, only our subduing is of the pile of dirty laundry or the rapidly multiplying dust bunnies.

To dads, your job is to work with your wife to set the vision for how the house will look and feel. This is delicate so go easy. You are the provider, so you will be gone most of the time. But, your conversations with your wife are the beginning. To give her momentum, you need to use servant leadership. You need to quietly support her taking dominion over the house by doing the dishes and folding laundry. As you use servant leadership, you’ll see your wife begin to blossom in her ability to clean and keep an organized house.

To moms, your husband and you need to talk about what you think a clean house looks like. Then, bite off a little piece. For example, set a time during the day when you will always have a clean, shiny kitchen sink. Start to get a handle on the clutter by targeting one area at a time. As your house becomes more organized, you will find emotional energy and you will gain momentum as a mom.

A man’s identity is generally found in his productivity and leadership, especially as the provider for the household. A woman’s identity is generally found in her clean and organized home environment. Since we are sinners, there will always be a tension in these relationships. Men may find it hard to be diligent or may find it hard to be the servant leader in the home. Women may find it hard to be content with the identity of mother and wife. The tendency is to want the other person’s job or just to settle for being discontent.

Our purpose in life is to mirror God’s amazing qualities and enjoy our relationship with Him. You’ll find that this same concept is lived out in your child. You child will be a mirror of you. He will mirror your good and bad qualities. As you mirror God in your home, your kids will mirror those qualities, too.

Take a minute to think about which parts of your house need to be subdued, organized and kept clean. Do you feel overwhelmed by them? What is working? What isn’t working and why? Talk to your spouse and make a short list of where to start. As your house becomes a reflection of God, you’ll find emotional peace. You will also see an increase in productivity and energy.

Managing Your Housework website: www.flylady.net

Clean and Scheduled

God wants His people to be set apart from the dirt and filth of the world. This starts in our physical living situation. God wants us to have a clean house that shows how clean He is. God also wants us to live scheduled, orderly lives. Your clean house and consistent schedule will create less stress and more productivity.

Here are a few things that you should do to get started with a clean house:

1. Divide your house into high and low traffic areas. Clean the low traffic areas once a week. Clean the high traffic areas at least once a day.

2. Put stuff back where it goes. If you keep your shoes in the closet, put them there instead of in the living room. If you keep bills on the desk, walk to the desk rather than set them on the kitchen table.

3. Once your house is organized, it is about maintaining your system. You can do it! It just takes that extra 30 seconds to do a task right.

Scheduling is really important because your schedule becomes the framework for your family. Think about Jesus. He got up early and had activities that he accomplished during the day. He kept regular meal times. He attended church on the weekends. On Earth, Jesus was a scheduled person.

Some part of your life will drive your schedule. It could be your job or your sleep habits. The challenge is to take control of that schedule. If you control your schedule, you will see your productivity increase. You will also see your child develop better life habits. This will help your children become successful parents. And, your child will probably do better in his future career because of your schedule today.

Make a list of what you want to accomplish every day. Set a reasonable time to wake up. Write out an hourly schedule for the day. Here’s an example for mom:

7:30

Wake up, brush your teeth, make your bed and make breakfast.

8:00

Do the dishes and wipe down the counters and the table.

8:30

Read your Bible.

9:00

Tidy up the house and vacuum the living room.

11:30

Eat lunch and do the dishes. Sweep the floor under the table and in the kitchen. Wipe down the counters and the table. Read the Bible together.

4:00

Clean the bathroom and tidy up the house.

5:00

Make and eat dinner. Read the Bible together. Do the dishes, clean the counters and the table. Sweep under the table.

9:30

Shower, brush your teeth and get ready for bed. Put all clothes worn today into a dirty clothes basket.

Growing up with a schedule will be a gift that you give your future generations. You can’t imagine how many amazing accomplishments your child will have because you gave him a daily schedule.

The Secret to Parenting video: http://youtu.be/sIgIG1AvNDE

The Grand Adventure

Think about parenting as a giant road trip. Your journey is together as a family. Your destination is arriving at a family reunion in Heaven where you’ll meet all of your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

You have the vision for your destination. You have your roadmap. And, there will be plenty of time together. Your job is to raise your child in the fear of God and in a lifestyle of applying God’s truth to his life. At first, you’ll be making all of the choices for your child. During this time, you’ll be insisting on an obedient heart towards you. You will be telling your child what to think and what to do. As you grow your child’s Biblical foundation for living a godly life, you will begin to give him more decisions. You will eventually be more of his guide. But that cannot happen without you being his decision-maker for many beautiful, loving, teachable years.

Give your child the gift of a God-honoring, structured house that worships and obeys Jesus Christ together. Teach your child the good news of Jesus daily. Model for your child how the Bible is lived out, one hour at a time. This is your day! Your day, your year, your life to grow up your child in the Lord. Set your mind on the destination and deliberately engage every ounce of strength into the journey.

These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Safety First video: http://youtu.be/GbU7MrsxkVo

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