Raising Godly Children

Do you take the time often to think about what kind of adults you are raising your child to be? Do you plan how you can reach that goal? Do you have a vision? Or are you only allowing each day to happen in our busy, over booked world?

This is a very important thing for a parent to think about. It was God’s plan when he gave you children to raise. Malachi 2:15 tells us so: “You were united to your wife by the Lord. In God’s wise plan, when you married, the two of you became one person in his sight. And what does he want? Godly children from your union.”

Godly children, that’s what God wants. When Christian parents do not take this seriously, or even when they decide to limit the size of their families, they are decreasing the warriors that God needs to work here on earth for him.

So how, as parents, do we raise Godly children? Deuteronomy 11:18-21 tells us: “Keep these (God’s) commandments carefully in mind…Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting at home, when you are out walking, at bedtime, and before breakfast! Write them upon the doors of your house, and upon your gates, so as long as there is sky above the earth you and your children will enjoy the good life awaiting you in the land the Lord has promised you.”

The Lord wants us to be continually teaching our children. We should always be looking for ways we can incorporate a godly lesson into our children’s lives. To do this, you must plan. To do this, you must watch what is going into their minds.

Guard what your children are reading, watching, and who they are associating with. Do not let anyone convince you that you are too careful. Don’t let them tell you your children won’t ‘grow up like everyone else’. If you DO hear this, then answer them, “Praise the Lord! I don’t WANT my children to grow up like everyone else! I want my children to be strangers in this world, like the Bible says.” (1 Peter 2:11).

Guard what your children are reading. We become what we put in our minds. There are so many good things out there, and so many bad. The Bible has much to say about witchcraft, magic and sorcery, and all of it is bad. Don’t let people convince you that books that have these things in them are “Christian analogies”. Flee them. And as you flee, grab your children! A child’s mind starts out pure and sweet, never let the ugly, profane, wicked, and impure enter it as far as you have the power to protect. You can do much for keeping your child’s mind centered on the Lord with this one thing. Buy them good character building books. A good rule is to look for things written before 1960. That’s not hard and fast, but something to begin to guide you. Look for books with a good work ethic, good morals, and children who obey their parents, and don’t make fun of them, or get anything over on them.

Watch what your children see on TV and in movies. That includes commercials and trailers. We had a TV until about 10 years ago, and things were getting so bad then, I can only imagine how they must be now. I stopped my children from watching a cartoon where one of the main characters burped out songs. Yes, it was funny, but was this the kind of thing I wanted my children imitating? Would this kind of thing bring about good character? Is it a good Christian testimony? Another thing was that I began to notice that sometimes really impure commercials would air during a decent cartoon. It wasn’t long before I decided we just didn’t need it at all.
Another thing I noticed in the newer children’s shows and movies is that there is always just a little bit of sexual innuendo somewhere. Maybe this is to keep the adults interested? Children pick up more than we think. And they do NOT need to be exposed to this.

Watch who your children are associating with. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be mislead, bad companions corrupt good morals.” It also says in Proverbs 13:20 “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” The last thing your child needs to be is popular. The last thing he needs is to spend the lion’s share of his time with his peers, who are not wise. Your child needs to be with YOU most of his waking hours. YOU are wiser, and should be the one who, like Deuteronomy says, is walking, sitting, eating and spending time with them.

In closing, remember the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” To train, you must have a plan, or a vision. Pray, and the Lord will give you wisdom!

Instilling Modesty in Little Girls

In a family where the females wear dresses only, it’s doubly important to instill modesty in our daughters. Modesty encompasses a lot of things other than just the clothes that we wear, but for the most part, that’s what I want to focus on with this article.

When my daughter was just a small infant, I sewed most of her clothes. I made her dresses extra long before she could crawl. The hemline went to her feet, or even beyond. This did two things, it kept her legs warm, and it kept them covered. I thought it looked very pretty and feminine, too. I usually put tights on under the dress, and then put baby socks on her feet. I felt good about keeping her covered this way.

As my daughter grew, and later, as we added a two and a half year old foster daughter (who became our adopted daughter 20 months later) to our family, I continued to keep the dresses long. I always made them well below the knees. This kept them covered well, and it also made the dresses last longer during growth spurts.

I made bloomers for the girls to wear under their dresses for a long time, but in the last few years, I had found leggings to be really nice. They are easy to find in many colors and even different lengths, from ankle length, to knee length to just above the knee. I keep a lot of these around. Some match my daughters dresses, and some are just colors that go with anything. I’ve been pleased with the results using these. They don’t stick out so obviously as underwear if you do catch a glimpse of them. They keep my daughters (and my own) legs warmer than bloomers did.

There is a little more training involved in keeping a child who wears dresses only modest. There are some things they can’t do, like hanging upside down on the monkey bars, but that isn’t going to harm them. There have been times when my daughters, especially my youngest one, does things like going down a slide, that I have had to tell her if she can’t do it modestly, she will have to quit playing on the slide. It’s amazing how modest she will suddenly become when faced with not getting to slide anymore. And if she doesn’t, then she isn’t allowed to use the slide anymore that day. Once again, this isn’t going to harm the child. It is good for them to learn self control, and not just be allowed to indulge in anything they feel like, or to act anyway they want too.

If my daughter is having trouble sitting nicely in a chair, or is rolling around on the floor, then I stop her and we talk about it. I remind her that she needs to act like a lady. Can she imagine mommy sitting or rolling around like that? How about some other lady she admires (and we name a couple of people). Right away she usually sees how it must look for her to be doing it, too. If you have a good relationship with your little girl, then she usually wants to imitate you and be a lady. The way to win your daughters heart and to teach her how to behave is to keep her with you most of the time. Let her have more time with you than with other little girls who might not have the same values you do.

Don’t think your daughter is deprived. There are many, many things a female can do in a skirt that is long enough and full enough. Living on a small farm, I have climbed and fixed fences, worked in gardens and flower beds, cared for goats and calves and many other farm animals. I’ve mucked out barns and helped deliver animal babies. I can’t even think of all I do, because it’s just my life.

Teaching modesty to your daughter is a very important part of raising her. Don’t neglect it. A modest, well trained daughter is a delight!

Raising pure daughters

Let our daughters be as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace (Psalm 144:12)

In this world today, raising up pure innocent daughters is not something that will happen without forethought and planning. But it is not an impossible task for the parent who has a vision in mind for the precious girl God has given them.

Purity is held in high esteem by God. Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 1 John 3:3 says “Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 2 Timothy 2:22 says “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
There are many more, a look in a concordance under pure and purity will give you a lot of scriptures to think on.

But in a world bombarded with the idea that sex sells, and that thinks children need Barbie’s and Bratz dolls, not to mention T-shirts with suggestive sayings and shorts with words displayed about the fanny to bring the attention of anyone and everyone to that area, how do we go about keeping our daughters pure and innocent?

We must follow another Bible teaching: 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 “For we are the temple of the living God: just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate”, says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean: and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me.” Says the Lord God Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

“Come out from their midst and be separate” says the Lord. This is a tall order, and one to be taken seriously. If you do not separate your daughter (and yourself) from the defilement of the world, it will be hard for either of you to be clean, but especially your daughter, who is more impressionable than you are.

Public school is no place for your precious daughter. There is no way to keep her clean and pure in that environment. Even if there are Christians teachers there, and there are many teachers who teach in public school as a ministry, they cannot shield your daughter from everything she will be exposed too. Don’t think you are sending your sweet daughter to school to be a ‘light’. The Bible tell us in 1 Corinthians 15:33 that “Bad company corrupts good morals”, not the other way around. Even when Jesus sent out his disciples, he trained them for three years first, and then sent them out in twos. Don’t expect your young daughter to withstand what even a lot of adults have trouble withstanding. Keep her safe, guard her mind and body. Keep her either at home and homeschool her, or a distant second best, send her to a trusted Christian school, where the atmosphere is more controlled.

Television is another thing that corrupts an innocent mind. Even if the show you are watching is fairly pure, the commercials are usually not. Today’s cartoons and other children’s programs are also filled with suggestive conversation. You can do better than this. Keep it away from your children.

Watch the books they read. Don’t let their minds be filled with worldly ideas and issues. Give them books with good morals, book that build their character and teach them how to be women of God. There are not many of those written today, but you can go back a few years and find them. Go online and check into the Christian homeschooling sites, and you will find some ideas. Home Fire Publishers has some good books for both adults and children, as does Rod and Staff and Christian Light Publishers.
Always remember, what you put into your mind will come out your mouth eventually. Matthew 12:34-35 says: “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”
Make sure your daughter’s hearts treasure is good!

In dressing your daughter, get your ideas from 1 Timothy 2:9-10: “”I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.” And 1 Peter 3:3-4 “You adornment must not be merely external – braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses: but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”
Let your daughter’s clothes cover her body. There is no reason for a child to dress like a hooker, in tight pants, short tops that don’t cover their tummies, and pants that ride so low that if they bend over, their behinds are exposed. Long modest dresses or skirts are the best choice. A young girl who has not yet learned to keep her dress down all the time can wear bloomers or leggings under them. 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 tells us that God also intends for a female to have long hair. Keep your daughter’s long hair pulled back in a modest way, too, unadorned for the most part. You might even consider covering it.
Give your daughter the look of a modest, pure, innocent young lady, and it will help her act the part.

Take your daughter with you where ever you go. Help her learn to be a lady by watching you. Teach her how to react in public in a quiet dignified manner. Teach her to be a good example to other young girls.
Teach her to cook, sew, crochet, help the needy or any other kind of womanly art. If you aren’t sure what they are, you can look in Proverbs 31:10-31.

Helping your daughter grow up to be a beautiful, pure woman of God takes a little effort, but it is such a blessing. There is nothing better you can give her.