America the Country of Undisciplined Children
Will the next generation of children be characterized as undisciplined, selfish, unloving people as they grow into adults? There are many parents out there who have grasped hold of today’s popular methods of parenting which promote themselves as progressive intelligence, and evolutions in parenting. Some of these parents are only a short ways into their parenting journey and are already seeing the warning signs. Instead of a child growing in wisdom and good character qualities, they grow in foolishness and selfishness. The child is quickly learning how to manipulate their parents and become the rulers of their family. The parents are dumbfounded as to how they arrived in such a place, and as a result, they do not enjoy their children as they aught, and some, perhaps openly or secretly, begin to hate having children.
Jenn and I consider the Bible to be divine wisdom, the Words of God, perfect for teaching parents (2 Tim 3:16-17) to deal properly with their children. Consider the qualities of God: good qualities, perfect in every way (Ps 18:30). So it is natural to expect that His instruction for parents is going to be perfect in every way. Now consider the qualities of the average psychologist; they have a finite understanding of the subject and their authority on the subject is not tried and tested—it is common to discover that their methods were completely wrong and disastrous. So, who’s advice would you rather follow? The answer is obvious, trust God, not man. God instructs parents to take discipline seriously (Prov 29:15, Prov 22:15, Prov 23:13-14, Prov 13:24), and it is for the good of the child; but again, the important question is, who’s advice do you have your faith in: God or man?
The results of parenting gone bad seems to have made it’s way into cartoons and books. Parents are depicted as frazzled and with little control over the children; the children rule the household. Daniel Zalewski wrote an article in the New Yorker titled, “The Defiant Ones”, where he makes very astute observations of this very thing. Albert Mohler further discusses it in an article on his blog.
Parents would do well to buck the cultural trends in parenting; trends that tout themselves as evolutionary, advanced, and modern. Rather, parents should embrace methods that go deeper into our spiritual being; methods that are godly, holy, and divine; methods whos source is not from the mind of man, but from the mind of God.