"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."   Ephesians 6:1

I have been working my way through the Original Home Schooling Series by Charlotte Mason and finding lots of practical ideas.  She really stresses establishing good habits with your children which has helped me to see how destructive it is to expect them to make their beds and brush their teeth, keep their room clean and obey me cheerfully one day, while the next day they are free to wake up and play, leave their toys scattered about the house, while they flitter from one activity to the next. 

I appreciate especially her observations about obedience.  She really says very little about discipline, but as Shalom (Pearl) Brand has said, when children are accustomed to always obeying, they seldom need to be disciplined for not obeying.

"There is no need to ....threaten the child, or use any manner of violence, because the parent is invested with authority which the child intuitively recognizes. .....The mother often loses her hold over her children because they detect in the tone of her voice that she does not expect them to obey her behests; she does not think enough of her position; has not sufficient confidence in her own authority. The mother's great stronghold is in the habit of obedience." (Charlotte Mason, Home Education)

I appreciate what she says.  I am so often unsure of my own authority because I want my children to feel loved, or because I am simply to lazy to enforce my every command, that I create insecurity in my children of who really is the boss.  It is easy to see though, from the evidence of adult children who were raised without a stable authority figure, how destructive this lack of boundaries really is.  It leads to children who don't have self control, and aren't under God's authority.  Don't wait till your children are on their way to prison to teach them submission to God ordained, loving authority. There is no time like the present.

Jennifer Pepito- Chapel Editor