Kids Blog

One of the most important lessons that you can teach your children is how to make the right choices. Some decisions are small, everyday ones, but others can change the course of your child’s future. With such a big importance on decision making, it can be hard to figure out how to choose the right path. In the world we live in, wrong choices are often applauded, and the right choices are seen as old-fashioned. As such, it is so crucial that parents raise their children to value integrity, honesty, character, and righteousness. Here are some ways that you can teach your children how to make the right decisions.

Pray

Remind your children that when Jesus had to make hard choices, the first thing he did was pray. “… Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16) God loves to hear our prayers and he has unlimited knowledge and wisdom at his disposal. He speaks to us through this time together and brings creativity or conviction to his children. Help your child realize that God is primarily interested in what kind of person they become. He seeks for us to be people who are righteous, have excellent character, and above all, who love deeply and wholeheartedly. The best way to put them on that path is to teach them the importance of prayer. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Ask Help from Parents & Others

Sometimes we feel as if we must make all the decisions by ourselves and that is simply not true. Start teaching your children at a young age that they can and should turn to wise people around them for counsel. This can be mom and dad, an aunt or uncle, an older sibling. God has placed certain people in your children’s lives to offer wisdom, advice, and support when they need it. You children have a whole community of brothers and sisters in Christ who can love them and help them fill in the gaps. They can also provide a different viewpoint, point out something missed, or tell about their experiences. Getting advice from people they respect might be difficult to hear, but it makes all the difference. Proverbs 19:20 says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future”.

Let Them Grow

As a parent, you want to protect and shield your children from all harm and give them a life without stress and strife. While that is understandable that you feel that way, it is important to understand that God cares about our spiritual growth and that means letting us exercise moral agency. God has permitted His people to travel the wilderness as they wrestled with the consequences of the choices they had made. This doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care about us; in fact, it’s just the opposite: He cares and loves us so much that He wants us to develop and grow through our own trials, actions, and experiences. Teach your children that they’re going to choose the wrong path from time to time and that in those situations, God’s grace is freely available for them. It is important that they learn from their mistakes. Living with the consequences of their actions will help your child’s character development grow immensely. It will be painful and difficult, but that’s all a part of growth. People who have excellent character, will, judgment, and wisdom were formed that way by having to make their own hard decisions and learning for the consequences of those decisions. Romans 5:3-6 says, “…but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Weekly Challenge

This week, show your children some biblical examples of making decisions, both right and wrong. The most infamous example, of course, is the choice that Adam and Eve made in the garden when faced with whether or not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. An example of good decision making is the story of Moses and how he followed God’s direction even though he thought he was unworthy. After reading some stories to your children, engage in a discussion with them about the consequences of decisions and how that applies to their lives.