What is your most important goal for your children?

Be careful answering that! The first time I did I had to do some quick back tracking. Surveys have said that 80% of CHRISTIAN parents answer that question “to give them a good education.” Let me repeat that… Surveys have said that 80% of CHRISTIAN parents answer that question “to give them a good education.” (I have to admit that the first time I heard the question, that is how I answered it too).

What happened to heaven? Shouldn’t a CHRISTIAN parent’s first answer be “to get them to heaven?”
I have read many books on child raising, especially getting your children to stay in church serving God. Most of them have logical sounding arguments. However I am in a unique position to evaluate all of them. I was raised in a Christian home and three out of two of the children my parents raised are not only still in church but in the ministry (my older half- brother is also a minister, though he was raised in his mother’s house; not ours) I know what works.

How to keep your kids with God.

Don’t be a hypocrite. Be real. This is the number one thing my parents did that was right. They made no bones about it that they believed the Bible to be absolutely true and they LIVED it to the best of their ability.
Laugh. We enjoyed being together in work or play. My parents weren’t overly critical and did forgive when we did wrong. We had fun.

Talk. My parents always explained what was going on and why they made the decisions they made. They discussed politics, religion, morals and life in general with us. (Note: we spent a great deal of time together to allow this to happen.)

Now, my parents are human and things could have been done that I think would have made it easier to stay in church and would have made us stronger Christians.

Homeschool. You wouldn’t send your child to an Islamic school for their education without expecting them to become Muslims. If you send your child to an atheist (government) school they will become atheists. Most private schools are just baptized government schools. Some even use the same curriculum.

Don’t let them be in a youth group. Avoid age integrated activities. Peer pressure is too powerful to resist.

Don’t let them learn to bend to the power of popular. Yes, this means Sunday School too.
Limit or, better yet, avoid the modern media culture. TV, movies, etc. are just hedonist school. they teach you to be shallow and selfish.

Read the Bible, sing, pray together. Show with your time what is really important to you. How much time do you spend watching tv every day? How about hobbies and sports? Shopping? Shouldn’t you spend at least 15 minutes a day you’re your King if He is really the most important thing in your life? If you want Him to be in your child’s life too, make sure you make it a priority for their time too. Have family Bible reading time daily.


PLEASE READ THESE. These women have a great deal of wisdom and are on the right track for solving the problem of the hemorrhaging of our children from church.

This blog discusses what I think is one of the biggest causes of problems with our children today.
http://ccostello.blogspot.com/2007/12/quality-time.html

This one is about God’s unique plan for women.
http://terrysoapbox.blogspot.com/2007/12/can-we-start-by-being-honest.html


People are wasting valuable years of their life and living in never-never land.
http://ccostello.blogspot.com/2007/04/wasting-time-in-relationships-that-lead.html
http://terrysoapbox.blogspot.com/2007/10/living-in-neverland.html