Online Sermons
Lesson #12 - Parental Adaptability
Series: Home-BuildersLESSON #12 – PARENTAL ADAPTABILITY
INTRODUCTION
While some key instructional principles receive high ratings, THERE IS NO SET FORMULA for how to rear a godly child.
The problem with a fixed formula (one size fits all) is that no two children are perfectly alike.
Identical twins might look indistinguishable, but seldom are their personalities and temperaments the same.
The great challenge of good parenting is discovering how to get into their differing heads and hearts in a positive way.
If we are to rear faithful and well-adjusted children, it will require A TAILOR-MADE APPROACH..
PROVERBS 22:6
Bible translators have struggled in trying to capture the precise meaning (and emphasis) of this passage.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. / KJV
Train up a child in the way he should go, and he is old he will not turn from it. / NIV
Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change. / New Century Version
Start a boy on the right road, and even in old age he will not leave it. / New English Version
Teach a child how he should live, and he will remember it all his life. / Today's English Version
~ Generally speaking many have tried to paraphrase Prov.22:6 with words similar to these - -
Train a child in the ways of God and it will reap lifelong blessings.
The emphasis or focus in this rendition is on THE TEACHINGS OF GOD.
While few will deny the centrality and significance of God's Word in raising children,
this may not fully represent the point that the wise man Solomon (guided by God) is making in this text.
ADAPTABILITY IS VITAL
~ In his book, The House On The Rock, pgs.156-168), Charles Sell has a chapter devoted to this very concept, which he
titles, “Go With The Grow”. Regarding Proverbs 22:6, he suggests that it is possible to translate this verse as follows:
Train a child in his own way, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
~ This angle is also supported by the NASV, which reads: Train up a child in the way he should go,
even when he is old he will not depart from it - - with a footnote adding: “literally, according to his way”.
~ Charles Swindoll has also addressed this idea in two of his books, You And Your Child and Growing Wise In Family Life.
In both volumes Swindoll speaks of “The Bents In Your Baby”. He writes, “Proverbs 22:6 implies that we need to know
our child, to familiarize ourselves with the distinct ingredients God has placed within that little package of a person.”
He adds, “We might paraphrase the verse to read: Adapt the training of your children so that it is in
keeping with their individual gifts or bents - - the God-given characteristics built into them at birth.”
cf. Psalm 139:13 / For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb.
ADAPTABLITY REQUIRES SENSISTIVITY AND STUDY
~ Discovering the unique ingredients that make up our child is vital to the task of good parenting.
Very early on, hands-on parents will begin to be able to assess the special make-up of their son or daughter.
Prov.20:11a states, It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself (i.e., makes himself known).
~ This “study” will require that a parent carefully ascertain both good bents and evil tendencies.
This study demands sensitivity (patience, time, energy, concentration and lots of compassion).
The goal is to shape the child (present and future) in keeping with God's will by adapting instruction to their personality.
It necessitates dealing with THE WHOLE CHILD, not merely conduct but attitudes and emotions as well.
This does not mean letting them get their own way. cf. Prov.19:15b
It does mean parents will need to work hard at warding off the bad bents and encouraging and nourishing the good bents.
