Parenting Through the Traps of Adolescence

Dennis and Barabra Rainey's book, Parenting Today's Adolescent - Helping Your Child Avoid the Traps of the Preteen and the Teen Years, is a great parenting resource. Over the next few posts I will be feeding you some information from this book and commenting on it. I would recommend you buy this book.

"We are convinced that far too many parents are lulled to sleep during the tranquil elementary years. Unaware of the approaching perils of adolescence and of how quickly they arrive, parents are caught without a defensive or offensive game plan for the teenage years."

God wants you to be the best parent you can be. And God is just the one that knows how to go about being that parent. You are still the main influencer to your child and it is your job to take that responsibility seriously and not put it off till later. Start parenting your child now. It is not just about feeding, and clothing, and soccer games. Parenting is about leading your child into adulthood. God made you stewards of His kids.

The Raineys write that there are three categories that the critical tasks of being a God honoring parents fall under.

1) Know and walk in the truth ourselves - We need to know what we believe, why we believe, and live according to those convictions.

Your kids watch you and can figure out what your real convictions are.

2) Shape the truth in our children. Build convictions in ther lives that will make it easier for them to see the traps that come into their lives.

3) Monitor the tesing of the truth in our children. Encourage and guide them as they test their convictions in the real world.

According to the authors there are two hard-won, heartfelt conclusions that underlie all they say in this book:

1) Parents must be connected relationally, emotionally, affectionately to their children. This ongoing attachment and involvement is absolutely essential as parents encounter the challenges of raising their children to maturity.

2) The reason so many Christian parents are struggling today is that they do not know what they believe and have not determinied the standards, boundaries, and convicitions for their children.

Stay with me on this and we will pull some great stuff out of this book
Serving you in HIm
Royal