Train Up A Child In The Way He Should Go

Being a mother of three, training and disciplining them is a combination of my parents own way of discipline, lessons I've learned in school and based on bible's teachings.

Having 3 children is not an easy job because I raised them almost alone. Disciplining and training well is my greatest achievement in life because I see all the fruits of it now that they are already grown-ups.

Below are some useful tips that might help you train and discipline your children.

1. Love your child.

For me this is the first thing that you must do. You cannot discipline and train your child well if you do not love your children.

2. Ask for God's guidance.

In everything you do as a mother, always seek God's guidance and give you all the wisdom you need.

3. Know the best time to discipline and train your child.

I remember my college teacher in my psychology major subject once said, the most critical age in your child's life is from 0-5 years old because its the formative years. Whatever your child learns during their formative years, will be the foundation of his personality.

4. Never punish your children but rather reprimand and reward them

I have nothing against spanking your child because it is taught in the bible, Prov 22:15 andProv 23:13-14 tells it so. What I am against is punishing your child for each demeanor he or she commits. One piece of advise, when spanking your child, use a crumpled newspaper. He will not get hurt if you spank him but the sound of the newspaper hitting him will have an impact on him. Also, if you child does something wrong, reprimand him and tell him that what he did was wrong and reward him.if he did something good. Just remember, never never glorify your child's misdemeanor because he will outgrow it. Example, do not be happy unintentionally if you see him punch his playmate. Because in the mind of your little child, he will get your attention if he will do it.

5. Teach them values.

One's personality depends on his life values. For me it is very important to teach my children good values that I've learned from my parents. So I taught my children the value of patience, forgiveness, time, money,perseverance, independence, resiliency, truthworthiness, faithfulness and love. These values I believe will make them better persons when they grow up.

6. Practice what you teach.

I guess this needs no further explanation for me. As parents, we should be good role models for our children. How can we discipline and train oir children well if we do exactly the opposite of what we say. Good example is, if we tell our child that smoking is bad for the body but you or your spouse is doing so can you expect your child to believe you?

7. Cultivate your child's interest.

Observe your child's interests and hobbies and cultivate it. Your child's interest is the most important aspect of his success. Remember, if your child enjoys and loves what he does he will persevere to be the best.

8. Let your child decide for themselves and experience failures as well

In truth, many parents want their children to excel. They get angry if they gets low grades or even having failing grades. My advise, please don't! Let your child experience failures. Too much expectations can pressure him and in the long run, he cannot also accept failures.

With regards to decision making, let them decide for themselves. Our only role as parents is to guide them well. This is what I did to my children. In every decision they will do, I let them decide and I just listen to their reasons for deciding and give them advise for them to see if their decision is good or not.

9. Of all the things I've said, I can say that training a child is much better than disciplining him. If you train him well, he will be a well disciplined being and whatever he learned from the trainings you did, he will also passed it on to his children. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” 

As I close, let us all be responsible parents guided by God's words and teachings.