From the Principal's Desk
Dear Parents,
In the last few articles we have seen the characteristics of permissive parenting and the origins of permissive parenting. Today we begin the third point of this series.
The Effects of Permissive Parenting
Effects on the Parent
Parents practice permissive parenting for a variety of reasons. Some were raised in a stern, unloving home, detached from their parents. They react to their harsh background, thinking that permissiveness will cause their children to like them. Some were taught permissive styles in secular or even Christian colleges and universities and have mixed the world’s teaching on parenting with the Bible’s teaching on parenting. Some practice permissiveness out of an overt refusal to parent the Bible way. Ultimately, parents charge through the right way of parenting because they choose to raise their children a different way than the Bible teaches yet still gain the positive outcomes of the Bible way.
Every decision has outcomes. The Bible says “whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7). Choice in parenting styles is no exception. We can look to the story of Eli to see the effects of permissive parenting, and we start with the effects on the parent.
Permissiveness brings shame. Eli failed to restrain his sons when they were young, and he failed to restrain them when they were old. At the end of his life, Eli died in personal shame with mounds of disgrace heaped upon his family. He had no legacy to leave behind, except the sad epitaph: “he restrained them not.”
Proverbs 29:15 says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Guilt, grief, embarrassment, and disappointment are the placards permissive parents will wear for their lifetimes. The worst pain of all is watching their child’s disobedience to God, knowing that he is uninterested in submitting to God. Whether the child turns away from a particular Bible doctrine or practice or whether the child turns away from God altogether, he is not honoring God as he ought.
After a certain point in parenting, reversing course with a child becomes very difficult. With an older child who exhibits a great deal of stubbornness, the likelihood of seeing change is nigh to impossible. This kind of child, in time, stops listening altogether. With minimal influence over their child, parents can do little more than watch him self-destruct, ruining his own life and the lives of others. The word that describes the agony mom and dad experience over such disaster is shame. Shame is the bitter reward for raising a foolish son, or at least a son who entertains aspects of foolishness in his life.
Do the hard task now of parenting the Biblical way. If you have not done all that you should have done to restrain you child, make the necessary corrections today. Righteous outcomes are often slow in arriving, but the painstaking, persistent approach of raising a child to willingly honor God ultimately brings great gladness to the heart of the father and abundant honor to the life of the mother.
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton
Dear Parents,
In the last few articles we have seen the characteristics of permissive parenting and the origins of permissive parenting. Today we begin the third point of this series.
The Effects of Permissive Parenting
Effects on the Parent
Parents practice permissive parenting for a variety of reasons. Some were raised in a stern, unloving home, detached from their parents. They react to their harsh background, thinking that permissiveness will cause their children to like them. Some were taught permissive styles in secular or even Christian colleges and universities and have mixed the world’s teaching on parenting with the Bible’s teaching on parenting. Some practice permissiveness out of an overt refusal to parent the Bible way. Ultimately, parents charge through the right way of parenting because they choose to raise their children a different way than the Bible teaches yet still gain the positive outcomes of the Bible way.
Every decision has outcomes. The Bible says “whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7). Choice in parenting styles is no exception. We can look to the story of Eli to see the effects of permissive parenting, and we start with the effects on the parent.
Permissiveness brings shame. Eli failed to restrain his sons when they were young, and he failed to restrain them when they were old. At the end of his life, Eli died in personal shame with mounds of disgrace heaped upon his family. He had no legacy to leave behind, except the sad epitaph: “he restrained them not.”
Proverbs 29:15 says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Guilt, grief, embarrassment, and disappointment are the placards permissive parents will wear for their lifetimes. The worst pain of all is watching their child’s disobedience to God, knowing that he is uninterested in submitting to God. Whether the child turns away from a particular Bible doctrine or practice or whether the child turns away from God altogether, he is not honoring God as he ought.
After a certain point in parenting, reversing course with a child becomes very difficult. With an older child who exhibits a great deal of stubbornness, the likelihood of seeing change is nigh to impossible. This kind of child, in time, stops listening altogether. With minimal influence over their child, parents can do little more than watch him self-destruct, ruining his own life and the lives of others. The word that describes the agony mom and dad experience over such disaster is shame. Shame is the bitter reward for raising a foolish son, or at least a son who entertains aspects of foolishness in his life.
Do the hard task now of parenting the Biblical way. If you have not done all that you should have done to restrain you child, make the necessary corrections today. Righteous outcomes are often slow in arriving, but the painstaking, persistent approach of raising a child to willingly honor God ultimately brings great gladness to the heart of the father and abundant honor to the life of the mother.
Sincerely,
Pastor Sutton