My wife and I have seven children who are respectful and productive. Four of them are married and raising eleven grandchildren to serve the Lord. All seven are well liked by those who know them. Three of our grandchildren have come to know the Lord as well. People asked me what my wife and I did to have the success we have experienced. Our answer is shared below.
RAISING OUR CHILDREN
We have raised seven children who are all loved and respected by one another and loved by many who know them. They are productive citizens with great work ethics and wonderful parents who love their children deeply. Our success was simple enough, and anyone who followed it could get the same results.
1. My wife and I put Jesus Christ at the center of our lives and kept him there.
2. We gave out lots of hugs and kisses and reassurance to them growing up.
3. We prayed over them even while they were still in the womb.
4. We read the scriptures to them and taught them Christian values.
5. We taught them how valuable they were in God's eyes and to us.
6. We released them to grow up and make their own choices.
7. We taught them that they needed their own salvation and couldn't become godly men and women without that salvation.
8. We took care of their needs until they graduated high school, and then they had to invest in the house to live there including chores and cash.
9. We spanked them as needed. Before the spanking they were informed in a clear manner what the offense was, and afterward we reassured them that we loved them and the discipline was for their own good. We gave hugs after the spanking to reaffirm our love and we told them we loved them and only wanted what was best for them, but we could not allow certain behavior to go unpunished.
10. We had Christian music playing in our car and in our home, and we sat with our children and watched movies with a Christian theme or general movies that excluded the foul language, sexual permissiveness and bloodthirsty killing common in many of the movies produced by the perverted minds in Hollywood. This generation would call the movies we watched family friendly movies.
There is more - We never let any one child believe he or she was more important than any of the others but they were all loved equally and we had no favorites.
We watched the friends they chose carefully, interacted with their friends and helped them find friends that would positively influence their lives.
We allowed them to go to youth activities including trips to help other people they never met and didn't know as a church missions project.
We sat down with each of the married couples prior to their marriage and did some counseling about what we believed makes marriage work.
Above all, we trusted God with the results even though we failed as parents many times. He certainly has done a marvelous work in them.