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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 863 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Parenting Is Not About Raising Well-Behaved Children - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week, wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 863 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.  As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.  We will address areas such as finances, relationships, health/fitness, business/work, home repairs/renovations, seasons of life, spiritual/Biblical questions, and any others areas that come our way.  As your fellow sojourner and mentor on this trek that we call life, it is Gramps goal to provide you with practical wisdom and advice about any area of life. It is crucial that I receive a constant flow of questions so please submit your questions to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com, and Gramps will answer your questions on our Friday podcast.

We are broadcasting from our studio at ‘The Big House’ in Marietta, Ohio.  Granny and Gramps have had the privilege of raising 5 children to adults and now have 6 grandchildren with the 7th one on the way.  Raising kids is not always easy, but if God blesses you with the opportunity and responsibility, then it is a sacred trust.  So our question for today is:

Hey Gramps, “Raising kids is really tough.  How can we love them, care for them, and mentor them so that they are well-behaved as kids and become confident well-adjusted and responsible adults?”
Parenting Is Not About Raising Well-Behaved Kids
As I was contemplating this question, I came across a blog post by Todd Friel which I felt provided a very interesting perspective on balanced parenting.  Here is how Todd explains it.If you view your kids as sinners who need salvation, you’ll see parenting as a rescue mission.  Christian children are never naughty.  Yes, you heard me correctly.

Christian children are never naughty; Christian children commit sins. Labeling your child's behavior biblically will change the way you engage with your child when there is a ruckus in your home.

When you think your child is simply a brat, it is easy to scowl, yell, or even hit. But when you remember that your child's conduct is a sin against God, you no longer see bad behavior as something that must be curbed. You will now see your interaction with your child as a rescue mission.

When your children sins, they do not need to be yelled at. They need to be taken to the cross where a sin/forgiveness transaction can take place.The next time you hear screaming and crying in the other room, before you shout, "Knock it off, or I will give you something to scream and cry about," remember, they are not naughty; they are sinning. In other words, your parenting is no longer about conformity to your rules, it is about helping them to understand God’s precepts in His Word. This is earnest business.

Typically, you want your kids to stop being naughty for the following reasons:

They are getting up in your face and on your nerves.
You just want some peace and quiet.
You want to do something, and they thwart your goals.
You are worried about being embarrassed in public by their bad behavior.

If you begin to see your children as an image-bearer of God with a sin nature and they need the gospe...