Why Don’t You Listen!

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Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night.

1 Samuel 15:10-11

How many times have you heard yourself ask your kids to listen to you… to pay attention… or have had to ask them multiple times to do the same thing?

Do you end up frustrated and even to the point of finally yelling? I am not sure that any parent has ever not allowed themselves to get to this point. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are things that you can do to change this.

As a matter of fact, it is imperative that you as the parent take purposeful steps to change this.

He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul,
But he who is careless of conduct will die.

Proverbs 19:16

We have to remember that our children’s ability to listen and to follow instructions could mean their very life. Children have to learn to listen.

If our children do not learn to listen to and follow our instructions they very well could end up like Saul and become grown men and women who ignore and refuse to follow God’s instructions. I don’t want my children to live their lives walking in rebellion to God and His word. So it’s our responsibility to show them how important it is to listen by teaching them to listen to us.

Our children should not be ignoring our instructions until we begin re-giving them in anger. I don’t want my kids to have to experience God’s wrath before they realize they were caught not obeying. I prefer to have them seek to obey and to have a responsible heart.

Here’s the thing mom and dad… the problem quite possibly is not our kids lack of ability to listen to instructions it very well could be our lack of ability to correctly give instructions. It’s our responsibility as parents to teach our children. It’s our privilege to coach them in life.

Have you ever received an item that had to be assembled or been given a task to accomplish or tried to drive to a location and the directions or instructions were insufficient or confusing? How did that make you feel? How did that help or hurt you to get where you were going or to do what you were being asked to do? Was the problem your ability to listen and follow or was the problem the way the instructions were given?

Last week I offered a free one hour audio lesson on teaching our children to listen and follow instructions from the National Center for Biblical Parenting in my blog post Raising Successful Kids. In case you missed it last week the audio is still available in that post and will be there for you to download and to share with others.

In this audio teaching  you will hear practical examples and be given parenting tools to enable you to teach your children to listen and follow instructions. Teaching your children to listen and follow instructions builds within your children a sense of responsibility and responsible children become responsible adults. Responsible adults become people of character and integrity who make a difference in the lives of others and in this world for the glory of Christ and the kingdom of God.

Mom. Dad. Allow God to teach you so that you can teach them.

Today I am offering another audio freebie. Today’s free gift is Parenting Teens and Dealing with Disrespect, Defiance, and Rebellion by Bob Boerman

Next month I will be sharing about a new parenting tool from NCBP that is focused solely on parenting teenagers so this audio will be a good start for those of us who are right there… because if you are there or have been there you already know it’s a whole new ballgame!

silly girls

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Links to the other posts that contain free parenting tools audio downloads:

Raising Successful Kids

It’s a Sin to Bore People with the Bible

Teaching Spiritual Truths To Children

Resolving Conflict With Honor

 

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