There are days when you think none of the training you have done has made any impact on the lives of your children. There will always be those days, when children are over-tired, cranky or miserable or you are anxious, stressed or feeling unable to cope.

My advice as grandma would be to take a break – refocus on the positive.

But before all that happens children need to be trained in living well in your household.

Training and discipline in all parts of life are important to instill in your children.

Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

One way we can do that is by modeling what we want them to learn. Here are some examples:

1. Don’t watch TV in front of your children if you don’t want them to think TV is the focal point of your life. The same is true for any type of media (except maybe books – both children and parents having a reading time is a good strategy)

2. Don’t eat in front of the TV. Instead have all family meals with everyone at the table at the same time so there can be focused conversation. A great resource for things to talk about at dinner is Dinner Talk – 365 Engaging Conversation Starters to Help You and Your Family Connect. Give each child talk time.

3. Don’t yell if you don’t want your children to yell.

4. Do your housework and jobs with a joy on your face and in your heart – make it look fun and it will become fun. Your children will join you if you make everything you do – fun.

5. Speak in positive ways to your children, your friends, your spouse and even strangers. Encourage one another.

I have always loved Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Law Nolte.

Doesn’t this remind you of what Jesus teaches us?

Here’s a short poem I wrote to remind me and you to stick with Jesus’ teachings.

Learn to love, Jesus said,

Commandments one and two.

Do unto others, He spoke,

As you want them to do to you.

As a parent try to live

How Jesus would want you to,

With love, joy and kindness

And your child will do this too.

What you show and how you act

Seeps into little souls.

They see, they listen and react

From now until they’re old.

Life learning skills you do impart

To those within your care

God gave them to you to watch o’er

To teach, to love, to share.

Watch what you do and what you say,

As little ones will soak

Every word and action that they see

Until they’re real old folk.

Tweetable:

Are you careful not to forget to
 include your children in the dinner conversation?

Meet Janis Cox

Janis Cox is a faithful follower of Jesus. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, a sister and friend. Married to a wonderful husband, they have three grown children who are married; they have seven grandchildren.

She is a writer, watercolour artist and person who always is involved in doing something. She has her fingers in many pies – but all of them are delicious. A friend once told her that she saw a vision of her – with a whole bunch of coloured balloons and she tried to capture each one of them.

As a former public school teacher she loved to write poems for her kids. With this background she has now published her first illustrated children’s book, Tadeo Turtle.

You can find her on Facebook, and Twitter. Tadeo has his own Facebook Page.

Janis is a member of The Word Guild, Inscribe and American Christian Writers. She now does weekly podcasts for HopeStreamRadio. Her website is www.janiscox.com.