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"TRAIN UP A CHILD..."
IV. TEACHING RESPECT
("Honor thy father and thy mother..." Mt. 15:4-5; Ex. 20:12; cf. Eph. 6:1)
- If our great grandparents could see us now... How do you think your great grandparents
would react if you could introduce them to your world with all the juvenile problems? What has been one of the
greatest contributing factors to our juvenile problems?
- How do you think they would react, if you could bring them into your home to witness
how your children respond to you as parents? (Yes, there would be traditional, cultural differences, but these
questions drive at a difference in the home with regard to respect for parents.)
- Have we really come a long way, or have we gone backwards, when it comes to our home
relationships? Our families will not be better simply because we have made great strides in technology. Our children
are actually less spiritually minded though they may have superior physical and mental dexterity in being able
to conquer complicated video games.
QUESTIONS
- How do you, as a parent, perceive respect due you from your children? Do you tolerate
your children being sassy, talking back, and doing things which are clearly designed to show their lack of respect
for you? How do your children treat older people? Are they polite and have you taught them to say, "Yes Sir"
and "No Sir"?
- The first five to seven years of a child's life are especially critical in forming attitudes
and instilling character values. If you would desire that your children become respectful, responsible teenagers,
what must you do during these formative years? If you "mess up" during these years how difficult is it
to recover what was lost
- Our culture has been exposed to a philosophy about rearing children that promotes the
idea that if a child is reared in an atmosphere of love and his material and physical needs are satisfied, then
the child will become a respectable and responsible adult. Is that true? Is there a correlation between the behavior
pattern seen in parents and their children today and that concept of child rearing
- Does abundant love make discipline unnecessary? On the other hand, can discipline without
love produce the right results
- The critical part of teaching children respect for others is in not allowing defiant
behavior. When children throw a fit because they may not get what they want, or if they get angry and defy parental
requests, they WILL NOT RESPECT YOU AS A PARENT unless you immediately, and decisively, deal with that rebellion.
Furthermore, you have allowed them to have a distorted view of right, if you do not correct that defiance. This
selfishness will cause them to grow up to be adults who will not have respect for others. It is at these points
of conflict that quick, firm discipline MUST BE ADMINISTERED -- a little pain does a lot to adjust attitudes. (The
type of discipline and the ages during which it must be administered is covered under Lesson Number V, entitled
"Training Your Child -- Instruction, Guidance and Discipline".
- If your children do not respect you, do you think they will grow up to respect others
- What does the wise man teach about physical punishment in Prov. 13:24; 19:18; 22:15;
23:13-14; 29:15-17
- Is the point in time of conflict of wills -- when the parent says, "You will do
this," and the child says, "I will not," -- a time for discussion? Will "time out" resolve
the conflict? Following discipline, when it has been allowed to have its effect, what should be freely demonstrated
to the child
- Ex. 20:12 says, "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the
land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee." Jesus quoted that command in Mt. 15:4 and then added another statement
from the Old Law. What was it (Ex, 21:17; Lev, 20:9)? What is "the death"
[Outline] [Purpose] [Recommended Reading] [Introduction] [Lesson
I] [Lesson II] [Lesson III] [Lesson IV] [Lesson V] [Lesson VI] [Lesson VII] [Lesson VIII] [Lesson IX]
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