Child Training Tuesdays- Walking the Walk

I've been thinking for a few days about what aspect of child training did I want to discuss today. I just couldn't make a decision. Then it hit me this morning as I was traveling to the tennis courts for my children's lessons. We can talk to our kids, discipline our kids, pray for our kids, preach to our kids, take them to church, read them good books....etc. There are so many things that we can do to train our children in the way they should go. But, what happens if we ourselves are not modeling the attributes that we want to see in our children? This is so very important. We all have faults and things that we struggle with in our lives. We all have areas that we want to see our children do better in because we know how that negative aspect complicates our own lives. However, if you are always telling your children to do something better, or if they know that the Bible says something, but they know that their parents aren't doing it...then we become hypocrites.

Now, I personally believe that because we all struggle in some areas, that we cannot avoid sometimes being a hypocrite with our children. It doesn't make sense to sit back and watch your child make mistakes, and not do anything about it simply because you don't have complete control over that in your life either. What I believe is of utmost importance in this area is to be real and upfront with your children, first off, and then be working. I think if our children know that we struggle with something in our own lives, but that we are working on making it better, then they will not see us as hypocrites, but will understand that sin needs to be recognized, repented of, and then worked on.

This aspect of training applies to every area of our lives. Do we expect our children to read their bible every day, but we are not doing it. Do we expect them to eat healthy, but we sneak around eating junk food all the time? Do we tell them to control their temper with one another, but then they see mommy and daddy having a blowout with each other, or perhaps with someone else. Or, do we blow up at them when they push us to that limit? These are all areas that we can become hypocrites, if, we do not recognize them in our own lives, repent, be upfront about it with them, and then show them what we are doing to work on these areas in our own lives.

I would love to hear thoughts from other parents on this aspect of training. What are some other ways you can think of that we should be mindful that we are not being hypocrites with our children?

It seems to me that Jesus was most upset with those that were hypocrites. And that Bible is also clear that we are not to provoke our children to wrath. So, with those things in mind...how can we do our best in making sure that our children are learning from us how to better love and serve him, and not to turn away from him because they have not learned how to truly walk the walk? Please share your thoughts with me on this matter, so that we can all encourage one another in this area.