3 Keys to Parenting With JesusExemplo

3. Let Go Of Control

Give your children as much free will as you can tolerate, so they figure out how to make good decisions and solve their own problems. The Bible is full of instructions on how to make life work and feel fulfilled, yet God lets us choose obedience or rebellion.

Invaluable lessons for life are better caught than taught. A wise man in our church challenged me to heap responsibility on my grade-school-aged boys—to treat them as if they were three years older than they were.

Crazy scary? Oh yes! Did it work? Wow, did it ever! My boys rose to the challenge, their self-confidence soared, and they discovered failure is not fatal—just educational.