On The Sixth Day Of Christmas: Parenting Like Jesus

How would Jesus parent?

I doubt if there's an older parent alive who doesn't long for years gone by when they were celebrating life with their lively and growing family. Missing all of that, and regretting missed opportunities, is enough to make your heart hurt.

None of us knows all we might do differently if we could try this all over again. For myself, I might try to focus more on some things I wrote a couple of years ago, as follows:

Since Jesus had no biological children, we seldom think of him as a model for parenting. But he was a fully engaged mentor to twelve young followers with whom he practiced the kind of assertive toughness and soft tenderness we could all learn from, and showed great concern for the wellbeing of the young.

1) Jesus gives high priority to children and condemns in the strongest terms any kind of disrespect or harm done to an innocent child. 

2) Jesus affirms the teachableness, defenselessness and dependency of children as examples we can learn from.  

3) Jesus teaches his followers faith and values by word and everyday example, explains things by using simple illustrations, devotes himself to meeting his followers' needs, shows them honor and respect, prays for them, answers their questions, engages them in ongoing conversations, charges them with challenging work assignments, and is assertive in correcting them as needed. 

4) Jesus corrects by word and by reproof, without the use of any form of physical force. He nowhere advocates the use of a rod or any kind of physical violence toward anyone of any age.

5) Jesus’s teaching about dealing with someone who commits a wrong (Matthew 18:15-17) serves as a model for correcting behavior of people of all ages:

     a) Appeal to the offending person respectfully and in private.

     b) Address the issue (the fault) rather than attack or put down the person.

     c) Appeal for change rather than simply administer punishment.

     d) Take another with you if necessary to urge a change of heart and behavior.

     e) As the ultimate sanction, remove the offender from fellowship with the rest of the family (a form of time out!) until the misbehavior is acknowledged and corrected.

Much love, some tears and many prayers.