If we have disciplined and trained our children properly, we must not be overly self-conscious about their behavior if it is not always perfect.
Many parents say, "I taught my children about the Lord when they were very young, but look at them now. They're not living for the Lord." Their confession about their children is keeping them from coming any closer to living for the Lord.

My husband lived the first few years of his life with his grandfather, who was a Pentecostal minister. They would have daily devotions, share the Word, and pray together. When a situation would arise, the Word was quoted, so Buddy got full of the Word as a child.

Then when he went back to live with his father, the atmosphere was different. His father had quit living for the Lord and had gone the way of the world.

Buddy tried to go that way too, but the Word in him was too great. He was continually drawn back to it. He was never happy trying to follow his father, because the Word was imbedded in his spirit.

Share The Word
As a parent, continually share the Word with your children. Then say, "Father, I did as Your Word said. I trained up my child in the way he should go. He knows the Word and it is in his spirit."

If it seems that he is straying from the Word in his later years, you can add, "Even though the Word is lying dormant in his spirit, it is there; and I know in the Name of Jesus that he will awaken and follow after it."

Remember, the Word works, and no matter how the circumstances may seem, your child will follow after what he has been taught. Don't look at circumstances. Say, "Lord, I did as the Word says. Therefore, it is so and it is done." That way you will keep a calmness and strength within you.

Don't Expect Perfection
If we have disciplined and trained our children properly, we must not be overly self-conscious about their behavior if it is not always perfect.

I had this problem concerning my children. Maybe it stemmed from my past—people expecting me to be prim and proper because I was a minister's daughter.

With that kind of attitude, you have a tendency to withdraw and hold your child to yourself, not letting anybody see how he acts. I got to the point of almost being physically sick over this. I had to say, "Lord, forgive me; I am wrong."

Children are children and kids are kids. No matter what you teach them, they are going to do things and say things you don't want.

Here is a scripture you can read to your children to show them what make their parents happy:

The father of the [uncompromisingly] righteous—the upright, in right standing with God—shall greatly rejoice, and he who becomes the father of a wise child shall have joy in him.

Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.
(Prov. 23:24-25 AMP)

When children see that they are doing what the Word says, and that the Word works, they will have a desire to do those things. Fear won't be involved. They know you love them, and they love you, too. It's the same relationship we have with God.

They're Just Children
We know that God love us, and we love Him so dearly that it hurts us when we do something wrong. Maybe what we did wasn't intentional, but it hurts us in our spirits because we are the ones who did it.

Most things children do are unintentional; they're just children and they have to learn. That's why we need to have the Word flowing throughout our homes.

Good teaching begins at home and reaches out into every area of our lives. It is the disciplining of our children and the sharing of the Scriptures with them in love that brings results.

Source: Woman, Wife, Mother by Pat Harrison
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers