Parenting Made Simple

As a parent of three young children, trying to raise them in a home where the Gospel is central, I found this advice by Kevin DeYoung providing the needed, humor, realism, and encouragement I need.

Hope you do as well. The post is here.

Here's a couple of excerpts that showcase the nice balance of needed humor and encouragement.

It’s all so involved. There are so many rules and expectations. Kids can’t even eat sugar anymore. My parents were a solid as rock but we still had a cupboard populated with cereal royalty like Captain Crunch and Count Chocula. In our house the pebbles were fruity and the charms were lucky. The breakfast bowl was a place for marshmallows, not dried camping fruit. Our milk was 2%. And sometimes, if we needed to take the edge off a rough morning, we’d tempt fate and chug a little Vitamin D.

I could be wrong. My kids are still young. Maybe this no-theory is a theory of its own. I just know that the longer I parent the more I want to focus on doing a few things really well, and not get too passionate about all the rest. I want to spend time with my kids, teach them the Bible, take them to church, laugh with them, cry with them, discipline them when they disobey, say sorry when I mess up, and pray like crazy. I want them to look back and think, “I’m not sure what my parents were doing or if they even knew what they’re were doing. But I always knew my parents loved me and I knew they loved Jesus.” Maybe it’s not that complicated after all.

What's the Big Deal With the 3rd Commandment?

One of the areas we are working with the girls on, trying to shepherd them in is deterring them from saying, "Oh my God" or "Oh my gosh!" And I am sure that if you are a parent trying to shepherd your children in the ways of the Lord, you, like us, have found that to be quite challenging.

What is the reason we give as to why we shouldn't say that? D.A. Carson provides a helpful answer in his book The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place In God's Story.

Carson writes,

The reason we are not to say, 'Oh, God!' when we hit our thumb with a hammer or say 'Jesus!' when we are disappointed is precisely because it diminishes God. If you were to be so bold as to turn to the person who has just used Jesus' name because he has hit his thumb with a hammer and say, 'I wish you wouldn't use my Savior's name like that,' he would probably reply, 'I do not mean anything by it.' But that is the point: he doesn't mean anything by it. That is precisely why the usage is 'profane,' that is, common. Using the name of God or of Jesus when you 'mean nothing' by it is not profane because you have spoken a magic word that you are not really allowed to use, as if only priests can say the right abracadabra. The usage is profane because it is common, cheap. We are dealing with God, and we must say and do nothing that diminishes him or cheapens him. It is at best disrespectful, ungrateful, and demeaning; at worst it de-gods him and thus sinks again to the level of idolatry."