Page 98 - Family Life Student Textbook

when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they
may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their
children.”

As parents, we have only 18 years to prepare children to make all of the most important decisions of their
life which will have consequences for the rest of their life. They will be making decisions regarding
education, what they want to do with her life, and possible marriage. We need to prepare them to be in
constant fellowship with God, understand how to follow his will, and to know that every decision they make
will have consequences.

Model a Christian life for them by being transparent with them.

Too many parents fail to communicate with their children about vitally important areas of life because they
do not feel secure enough or comfortable enough themselves to do so. Teaching our children about sex is a
good example. Sex is a very important area of life, which increasing, is affecting our children at a younger
age. It is vital that our children understand what God’s Word communicates to us about sex. Parents should
be the primary source of that information. Parents who neglect teaching their children about sex, allow the
secular school system and the media to indoctrinate their children’s with the world’s view of sex. And the
results are tragic.

Parents need to disipline themselves to communicate with their children about important issues like sex,
pornography, sexual abuse and so on, even though it may be uncomfortable at first. We need to learn early
on how to become comfortable communicating about these important subjects with our children. Why
shouldn’t we? The rest of our society is comfortable in influencing our children in negative ways.

When your children are young, get in the habit of simply answering their questions honestly according to
the appropriateness of their age. We can learn to answer their questions honestly, without giving them
more detail than their questions require.

Take every opportunity to give them examples from your society of the consequences of making the right
decision or the wrong decision. We can use life examples without being condemning and guilty of gossip.

As parents we need to model a healthy marriage for our children to see. This includes allowing them to see
how much we love each other and enjoy each other’s company. Children desperately need to learn from
their father on how to treat and respect a woman. They desperately need to learn from their mother on
how to respect and submit to the authority in their lives. These are valuable lessons they will not receive
from another source.

Sometimes we unintentionally communicate to our children that sex is dirty or something to be ashamed of.
They need to know that God created sex to be beautiful and enjoyable when it is reserved for marriage, as
God intended. They need to be given God’s perspective. And they need to be taught that God reserved sex
for inside marriage for many reasons and for the good of everyone involved. Warn them of the
consequences if they disobey God’s protective order.

These prinicples apply not just to sex but to other vital areas of life as well.

Show your children how to have victory over temptation and how to confess sin. Let them hear you pray out
loud as you confess sin and thank God for His forgiveness as 1 John 1:9 teaches. They need to know how to
confess their own sin and thank God for His forgiveness. Your transparency will not only teach them, it will

97