Toughest Job

Hands down the toughest job in the world...parenting. All you parents are shouting "AMEN" and those who aren't parents yet are probably thinking "whatever", but in my opinion, successful parenting is the biggest accomplishment you'll ever gain. As someone who has worked with kids my whole life, I've seen every parenting style out there. I've had the benefit of working in both secular and Christian settings and have learned from each. I want to say I am NOT a parenting expert, I have no official parenting education and I made my share of parenting mistakes but I do have common sense, two adult children who love and serve God and a lot of God's grace! I feel to be a successful children's pastor, I need to minister to the whole family. So, throught this blog, I'd like to occasionally include some parenting facts, tips, and encouragements. I was reading an AOL parenting poll through Parenting magazine. It was pretty interesting. The title was "Moms dish on how they handle misbehaving kids." It's pretty much inevitable that kids will misbehave, so what do you do when yours act up? More than 2,500 moms fessed up about discipline in our Parenting poll: How you decide what to do about bad behavior:
44% of you do whatever you can think of at the moment.
28% always handle it the same way.
26% wait a few minutes to figure out a punishment that fits the crime.
3% wait until you can discuss it with your partner
WHAT? No wonder our kids have so many problems. Only a little more than a quarter of parents consistently discipline in the same way. In my opinion, if your kids understand what the consequences are for misbehavior, your job just got a lot easier. When we find out that we are becoming parents we start planning everything. Names, room decor, college funds, what's the best age for Disney World, you know, all those fun things to think about. I think if you start talking about discipline, too, you'll be ahead of the parenting trials. Let God show you through His Word His ways of raising kids. There are tons of great parenting resources out there but the best advice I can give is go to God and be consistent. No should mean no, if you say you're going to spank, leave the store, take away a toy, whatever the threat, be prepared to follow through. We all want healthy, well adjusted, happy children and discipline is one of the main keys.