Training our Children
My gem this month is taken from the book of Proverbs. These proverbs were written by King Solomon who was noted for his wisdom. They are written from his observations on life and not as promises from God. The proverb reads like this:
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6 NKJV )
Years ago when I was making my own observations on child rearing, I remember reading this verse and word train standing out for me. How do we train our children? I noted that it’s written in the imperative mood and is a word which requires action.
It’s common today for athletes and sportspersons to have a personal trainer. These trainers have to make similar sacrifices to the person they are training. Often they have to get up early in the morning and they have to keep focused on their trainee during the training session—giving advice, showing them how to improve a particular skill etc. Likewise with our children, training them requires sacrifices on our part. We have to be prepared to give them our time and attention.
I have a toy box ready when young children come to visit and I’m always impressed by those children who automatically know that, when it’s time to go, the polite thing to do is to get down on the floor and pick up the toys they have used. Their mother doesn’t have to shout at them and coax them into doing it—they have been trained to do it! I can remember training my own children to do this by getting down on the floor with them and making a game of it. A small sacrifice on my part, but worth it.
To top it off, my three, adorable, great-grandchildren always happily pick up the toys they have used when they come to visit—as did their mother when she visited twenty plus years ago!
Of course, this principle of giving a priority to training our children follows through into other aspects of preparing our children for adult life. I thought I’d check what others have said about this proverb and here is one person’s comment:
This passage refers to training a child to develop good habits, make appropriate decisions, and to follow God so they continue to do so well into adulthood.
This may seem a little daunting, but as the proverb implies, how we train our children will have long reaching benefits.
For now, May God bless and guide you as you seek to train up your children in the way they should go.
Blessings,
Grandma Adele
