Number 4--go outside
of your marriage for counseling and input when you reach an impasse. Go outside your marriage. Your
kids sometimes can push you to the wall, and you're just not objective. So my
wife and I, we're committed to every principle
I’m talking to you right now. We
got to a circumstance we couldn't solve and we couldn't talk it out, and it
went on for a while. And we had a disagreement about one of our kids. And our kids were great
kids ( raising children).
But, you know, the kids challenge you. And we had a
circumstance that came up that I had an opinion on and she had an opinion
on. And it happened every day. It wasn't
like one of those things that comes up every
months. It was an everyday event within our family. And so we were
challenged on this. So, I was a pastor. And I told my wife one day, pick who you want to go to and we'll go to them and I’ll submit to whatever they say. And she said, well, who do you feel comfortable with? So we talked about who we felt comfortable with. It was a pastor. And it was a woman.
And so we walked into this woman's office that we both
respected. And here's what I said. Now, we're not here just to get your advice.
We're here to submit to your counsel. We have an impasse in our family. And there's something going on
with one of our children that we cannot solve. So we're not going to argue with
you. We're going to tell you what's
happening, and whatever you say is going to be God's voice to us. We've already
decided that. So she said, well, tell me what's happening. So my wife gave her
side and I gave my side. And she told me I was wrong ( raising children).
My wife was right. But I couldn't see it. I was too
emotionally involved and I was strongly opinionated and I just couldn't see it.
Let me say, thank God for that woman
that counseled us. Thank God. And thank God that I walked in there
submitted and not arguing. Because she
took my wife's side. But it wasn't my
wife's side, it was God's side, because my wife was right.
Number 5, parenting takes
faith. It takes faith. You've got
to be faith-filled to parent, especially
in the days that we're living in. Train
your child up. Now, training doesn't
mean talking. Training means
showing. It includes telling, but it means living in front of. Talking is teaching, it's not training. Train your children up. Show them how to live successfully and when they become mature, they'll return to what you showed them. That doesn't mean you won't have challenges. And it doesn't mean there won't be some difficult moments in the meantime, but if you train them up--you have to have faith that if you do the right thing in front
of them, they'll return to that one day ( raising children).
This is Adam Norman, a 30-year-old father and a journalist. I consider being a father as my full-time duty, which comes before my actual job of journalism. As a father, there will always be new challenges for me to face everyday while raising my kids. This is where the idea of this website came from. I wanted to give out my experience, along with the experience of others, to all parents out there who need an advice with raising their kids.
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