Parenting Tip: The Real Value of Learning to Obey
Posted on 01. Jun, 2010 by info in News
Children need to learn to obey, but not just to make their parents’ lives easier. We don’t teach kids to obey merely for our own convenience. We teach obedience because hidden within that character quality are a number of principles that will help children to be successful as they get older.
When children learn obedience, they learn to think about others. They learn to be a little less selfish. They learn to consider what other people want and how to please them. They learn to submit to authority.
Obedience involves learning to do what you’re asked even when you think you have a better way. The person who has learned obedience knows how to listen to an instruction, how to follow through without being watched, and how to check back when the job is done.
The children who learn obedience when they’re young will make better employees when they get older. Furthermore, they will be happier and enjoy life more.
We’re not talking about blind obedience here. We want our children to learn to evaluate instructions; but evaluating instructions is an advanced skill. First children must learn cooperation; otherwise they end up believing that every time they don’t like a request, they are justified to resist it. These children remain selfish and grow up to be whiners and complainers, not able to receive an instruction without an argument.
God knew what he was doing when he gave the instruction to children to “obey your parents.” He knew that learning obedience when they’re young would pay off greatly as they get older.
This parenting tip is from the book, Home Improvement, The Parenting Book You Can Read to Your Kids by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN.
This tip was used with permission from the National Center for Biblical Parenting.
Visit them at http:www.biblicalparenting.org