Train A Child To Be Wise

In the Book of Proverbs it is written: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and only a rod of correction can drive it out" (Proverbs 22:15). What is foolishness? It is a habit of a child who likes to do things without realizing how they will affect him later in life, such as in his personality, his decisions, and his stability. These are the ways of foolishness: bad choices of friends, listening to foul music, playing video, television and computer games, and watching movies that have no moral education to improve self and obtain an understanding about life. Foolishness is an evil way. All parents should take seriously the work of removing it from their children through the teaching of the righteousness of God, and constant discipline. Usually, the parents create the destiny of their children. If the child is being taught about the righteousness of God from infancy, then it is in the hands of the child to choose his own destiny when he is grown.

One of the disciplines that can help drive these bad habits away is giving the child responsibility, showing him how to keep order in his room, watch his siblings, wash dishes, be aware of curfews, take out the garbage regularly, and clean the house and learn to cook. Every discipline taught to your children should reflect on the stories the people in the Words of God. This will help children recognize good and shun evil. It will also encourage them to follow in the footsteps of those godly men and women. Do not be deceived by someone you think knows the Words of God, and hand over your responsibility to them to teach your children. Remember what Jesus Christ says, only to the babes that God reveals the secrets of the Words of God. Matthew 11:25) If the parents have humble and righteous hearts, the Lord God blesses them with understanding of the words of God. This gives them skills to teach their children the way of God. The effect of teaching the righteousness of God and disciplining children is God giving them maturity in understanding about life, discernment between good and evil, and wisdom which is the knowledge of the words of God. These spiritual tools give your children the ability to make right decisions, resist evil, and have a broader understanding to find ways to solve the problems without harming their physical bodies and souls. They teach them how to be responsible in all things that concern lives and make them sensitive to the well-being of others, as well as their surroundings.

Children are the future of this world, and what they learn from the parents or surroundings will have an impact to the future world. It is in their hands to prosper or destroy the world. We, parents, want to make sure that they will do the right thing, and by making them aware of the evil things that they would encounter as they grow up or later in life and resist it. Satan places traps for your children to destroy their lives and souls, and our only way to see his work is by teaching them the righteousness of God. It is their sword and a breast plate, and the only tool in this world that can protect them from the devil’s fiery arrows. Below are the devices that Satan uses to lure children to come into his traps.

Bad environment in which you and your children live can influence to corrupt their ways. Watchful eyes are helpful in children's lives. Know your children's whereabouts and whom your children are with at all times. It is very important to know the state of the surroundings of your residence. If there is violence, crime, drug selling, loud music, prostitution, pornography, tattoo place, bars where drunkards hang out, and improper conduct in public, then relocation should be the remedy. Good parents who think of their young children's welfare will be sure to move to a good place which can make a big difference in the children’s lives. Farm and mountain are example of good places to live. Nature is a good environment for children. Interacting with nature helps increase children understanding about life and the creation of God. They will have a chance to feed animals or plant food which teach them love and responsibilities.

Books and media can be friends and play the role of a teacher to the children and the parents. The family may not be living in a bad neighborhood, but if the parents can't discern between good and evil, the family can be an inch away from a bad place. The media, internet and television influence the understanding and feelings of a person. People watch the actors and actresses and turn fantasy into true life by following what they see. For instance, they might see a couple fighting on television. They yell at each other and are physically violent with each other. A couple may not realize this, but they are likely to copy all the things they see on the television. Worldly music, games, movies are entertaining or make us laugh; however, it is destructive which lead your children to experience negative emotions or engage in wrong behavior: anger, fights, irritability, drugs, drunkenness, sexual lust, fornication, laziness, disorder and talking back to parents.

Lack of Spiritual knowledge places children into a pit. Your children can be attractive and smart. However, if your children do not have the knowledge of the words of God, they will not know how to manage their lives the way God wants them to live. They will live life in their own ways which will lead them to sin and punishments. When your children are trespassing God’s commandments, many things can go wrong in their lives. They may end up with multiple failed marriages for choosing the wrong person. Their minds and emotions will have no peace which leads them into many deeper problems such as engaging in drunkenness, drug use, fornication, and hatred for themselves and others. They will have no ability to manage finances that can lead to homelessness and poverty, burdens for paying court orders for child support, bad credit, prison, or hard work, and not having enough to live on. This type of situation leads some to suicide or murder because of too much physical and mental stress, with little or no understanding of ways to solve the problem.

Disagreements and fights are inevitable between parents. Good parents hold disagreements privately when children are around. Eyes and ears are the doorways for information to get into the hearts and minds of the children, and whatever they hear and see, good or bad, in the surroundings will retain into their memory. They will likely to follow it. It is important to show them good and not evil. The Holy Scriptures teach us this through a couple Joseph and Mary who were the physical parents of our Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph attempted to hide Mary from the public. He thought Mary was pregnant through sin. He was afraid that Mary could set as a bad example to anyone in public.

The difficulties that most people go through are because of bad choices, no discernment of good and evil, and without having the Lord Jesus Christ in their lives. This is the result of neither disciplining the children nor teaching them the righteousness of God. The childhood stage is a learning time. As good parents, we have to place our children in a good atmosphere where there is no access to learning anything evil such as the things mentioned above. It should be a place where they can learn good habits and self-improvement, spiritually and emotionally, in order to help deal with any aspect of their later lives. God wants every parent to use righteousness as a guide to raising children, obtaining a better life, and beginning a good relationship with God to achieve everlasting life.
Deuteronomy 6:7
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.