Kids don’t come with manuals. When you find yourself alone, a single parent – physically exhausted and on emotion overload, parenting can seem overwhelming. Still, there are lessons to be found in God’s Word. Here is a list of five things that single parents can count on as “God’s Best Parenting Tips.”
Indeed the very hairs on your head are all numbered. (Luke 12:7)
God knows us so well that He knows every hair on our heads. If God really is all- knowing, do you think that you being a single parent is a surprise to Him? Finding ourselves in this situation may be a surprise to us but it is not a surprise to Him. Be confident that God has factored our circumstances into His plan for us. He is always at work in our lives. 1. Look optimistically for what God is doing right now in your life and in the lives of your children.
But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matt 18:6)
Children listen to every word and watch every action of their parent. There is no role model more important than that of a mom or dad. However, as a new single parent, hurting and suffering in self-esteem, it is easy for parents to forget that we are setting examples of behavior that will ultimately show up in our children. 2. Keep your own behavior above reproach. Do nothing that would prove embarrassing to share with your children later in life.
The Lord disciplines those he loves. (Proverbs 3:12)
Many single parents feel so badly about what has happened to their children that they neglect discipline. Children need to feel secure in knowing that they are loved enough to be disciplined fairly and consistently. Discipline is discipleship and is never about being angry or getting even.
Discipline only with the intent of building responsibility; not with the intent of punishing.
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. (James 3:6)
What we say to our children stays in their hearts for a lifetime. If it is harsh and demeaning, the wounds may never be healed. Our children are one-of-a-kind treasures. Despite characteristics that may challenge and stretch us, God designed them purposefully. Too often, children become the verbal targets of anger and frustration in a single-parent family home. Each member of the family deserves personal respect and respectful communication at all times.
Speak encouraging and carefully to children so as not to bruise their tender spirits and cause them to become discouraged.
If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a fool, you alone will suffer. (Proverbs 9:12)
Single parents may get stuck in a vicious cycle of impulsive actions and knee-jerk reactions that keep them and their children off guard for several years. It isn’t easy to find sure footing when life keeps swirling around us. But the godly counsel of many is critical. 5. Make wise choices in all that you do and you will reap the rewards of those choices immediately. If you continue to make bad choices, you will suffer the consequences of those choices for the rest of your life.
Note: All scripture references are NIV