Lesson 5 - Leading in Child Development –Teaching

Children come to us with many needs and God expects us to teach them and train them for Him. Teaching is a positive experience of explaining truth and helping children understand how it works. It involves rules and discipline. It includes temporal and spiritual values.Before children can be taught, they must be trained to hearken. They need to learn to obey their authorities promptly. This foundation must be laid very early! To miss this one point will mean only frustration and a struggle for many years to come. Children who learn this lesson can be taught and directed all of their lives. Children who never learn this are bent toward rebellion and stubbornness.

Proverbs 4:1-7

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get under-standing: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

• Identify from preceding verses the positive results that godly teaching brings about for children.
• How should we feel about our children and the fact that they come to us innocent and ignorant of what they need for life?
• How do Mother and Father each share in the responsibility of teaching truth and good values for life?

Proverbs 22:6 Train up [catechize] a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

• What are the far reaching effects of this verse?

Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Word study

Bring them up means: to rear up to maturity, i.e. to cherish or train. It is translated: bring up, nourish.

Nurture means: tutorage, i.e. education or training; by implication, disci-plinary correction

Admonition means: calling attention to, i.e. (by implication) mild rebuke or warning.

“Bring them up” involves tenderness in training them and walking with them as they grow up.

“Nurture” refers to disciplinary correction while “admonition” refers to speaking words of warning. These two are inseparable parts to training children. The next lesson will address the disciplinary part of teaching.

It is common for fathers to be more stern and firm with discipline while mothers tend to be soft and cater to their children. With a blend of these two, there is great strength and blessing for all.

• How do nurture and admonition complement each other?
• How can a father set the standards for behavior of his children even while he must go away to work?
• What are some ways that fathers and mothers can support each other in understanding and teaching their children?
• What are the temptations a father faces when he comes home from a hard day of work and meets child-training needs in his home.
• What would be some right ways a father could go about bringing order, obedience, and peace when things are out of order?

Proverbs 2:1,5 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

• What place do rules serve in teaching children?
• In what ways does tolerance for wrongdoing actually teach children it is acceptable?

Questions to ponder

• How can parents help children see beyond their rule and authority to the principles of Truth that God has established?
• What are the pros and cons of using family worship time to address needs in our children?
• Think of one thing your father taught you. How did he get it done?
• What value is there for children having similar rules at home, at church, in school, etc?