Christian-History.org does not receive any personally identifiable information from the search bar below.

Parenting Advice

You should have come to this Parenting Advice page from my About Me page.

Ad:

Our books consistently maintain 4-star and better ratings despite the occasional 1- and 2-star ratings from people angry because we have no respect for sacred cows.

None of this advice is original with me. I'd like to thank Jud and Linda Sasser—whom I've lost track of over the years—for being the first to provide an example of excellent children and the first to give me advice.

Advice for teenagers came from watching Gideon and Faith Dickerson and Teshuvah and Mercy Hartle, whose children have grown up to be excellent and reliable servants of God.

As far as books on parenting advice go, for young children I was helped by James Dobson, as well as Michael and Debi Pearl's To Train Up a Child. (Ad Notice: I get a small commission if you use the links to buy the books mentioned in this paragraph.)

Parenting Advice for Young Children
(Up to Around 12 Years Old)

  • Discipline: Clear lines and consistent correction. I've seen harsh correction and very mild correction work as long as it was consistently applied and the children knew the lines. There's a middle ground that's much easier on the parent than either extreme, so I opted for that.
  • Love: Love is spelled T-I-M-E. There's no replacing it. Blow this one, and you leave the happiness and godliness of your children to chance.
  • Usually I say there's only two, but really, you should marry a good wife. She made up for all my failings. It was hard for me to get it wrong.

Parenting Advice for Teenagers

In this case, I didn't ask. It didn't dawn on me it might be different than for smaller children until my oldest was close to his teen years. I had friends with wonderful teenagers, so I took note of what they did. This one's real short.

  • Be their friend (their wiser, older, advice-giving friend).
  • If you did the pre-teen years right, you can really blow the discipline side and it won't matter.

If you did well with your pre-teen, you'll be able to reason with them like you would an adult when they're teenagers. You have to let them do some exploring and learning on their own.

(Don't take that too far. I've seen teenagers that, one, needed some lack of discipline as pre-teens made up for, and two, who got into bad situations and bad influences and needed firm guidance to get back.)

This is an ad written by me, Paul Pavao: I get a commission if you buy Xero shoes, which does not increase your cost. Barefoot running/walking is the best thing for your feet--if we did not walk on cement, asphalt, and gravel. Normal shoes compress your toes and do a lot of the work your lower leg muscles should be doing. Xero shoes are minimalist and let your toes spread and your feet do the work they are supposed to do. More info at the link.
spacer

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Early Church History Newsletter

You will be notified of new articles, and I send teachings based on the pre-Nicene fathers intermittently.

Back issues availabel

When you sign up for my newsletter, your email address will not be shared. We will only use it to send you the newsletter.

Email

Name