Have you ever felt like your child was your parenting report card? If he or she was doing well in school, then you felt great. But, if your precious cherub was causing the teacher to pull her hair out, then you were failing.
How do we snap out of making our kids our “report card” and instead love and raise them as God calls us to do?
Proverbs 22:6 tells us to direct our children onto the right path so that when they are old, they will not leave it. If the Bible tells us to teach our kids God’s ways, how do we teach when we’re not always sure on how God wants us to live?
Today’s guest, Melissa Spoelstra coaches moms through eight areas that we need to teach our children so that they can develop their own relationship with God. As the mother of four kids, aged 20, 16-year old twins and 14, Melissa understands the difficulties and hard decisions that go along with parenting. According to Melissa, parenting is never about perfect, but intentionally planning out how to disciple our children so that they can learn to love Jesus.
In her book, Total Family Makeover, Melissa discusses how Jesus modeled certain disciplines, like prayer, mentoring and service. Then, Jesus taught the disciples how to integrate those same disciplines into their lives. Melissa will share her experiences as a mom, stories about how she’s “failed forward” as a parent and encouragement for any mom who’s at the end of her rope.
In today’s podcast, listen to my interview with Melissa as we discuss:
- Why we make our children into our parenting report card;
- How not to disciple your children into worriers;
- The CRUCIAL importance of finding a mentor mom to help you stay sane during your parenting years;
- The differences between parenting young kids and parenting older kids;
Melissa Spoelstra’s Website
Melissa’s Recommend Parenting Resources:
- Total Family Makeover: 8 Practical Steps to Making Disciples at Home by Melissa Spoelstra
- Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids by Kara Powell and Chap Clark
- For Parents Only: Getting Inside the Head of Your Kid – Shaunti Feldhahn
- Scream Free Parenting – Hal Edward Runkel