How Difficult Is Christian Parenting Today?

Added: 09/11/2006

Christian parenting today is a lot different than even twenty or thirty years ago. Societal values have changed, family structures have evolved - sometimes not for the better - and changed, and individual mindsets are differing when it comes to a personal understanding of the Biblical values involved in parenting children to be Christians in a decidedly non-Christian world.

Christian parenting today often seems to wistfully revolve around the ideas of the “good old days” and the fond memories of “what used to be” rather than on the challenges that lie ahead. Perhaps parents today feel a bit helpless in bringing up a generation of children that seem to grow up so much faster than the last generation. There are, of course, also different challenges to be mastered that did not factor into the parenting aspects of yesterday – at least not in the United States.

Take for example the war on terror. Christian parenting today in part revolves around keeping children safe from real life terrorists who would have no qualms attacking schools and modes of transportation that may be transporting children, simply to make a point – however misguided it may be. In addition to keeping children save physically, parents today also face the challenge of keeping them save emotionally; after all, you do want your children to be functioning and enjoying life without having to worry that someone may come forward at any moment to perform another act of terrorism. Thirdly,
Christian parenting today will need to focus on the idea of teaching children that God loves them, even in the face of terror, but that God also loves the perpetrators of terrorism.

How do you teach your child to love his enemies? How can you even explain to a child that she or he has enemies just by virtue of their very existence? This is perhaps the hardest part of Christian parenting today – the apparent paradoxes that exist in the parenting messages. Are there resources available to you that will help you with this momentous task? Of course there are! There is the Christian parenting magazine that will help you build convictions that may make your job as a parent a bit easier. After all, if you truly understand why you are doing what you are doing, then it will become so much more a matter of everyday living, than if you are going through motions that are not your own. In addition to the foregoing, Christian parenting magazine also serves in another capacity. It allows you to learn excellent conversation starters that will enable you to learn how to talk to your children about difficult yet nonetheless crucial topics. Taking a variety of different approaches, these magazines will give you the tools you need to get started.

Christian parenting today will also need to rely heavily on the churches. After all, while it is true that God ordained parents to be primarily responsible for teaching their children about God, life as a Christian, and the cost of discipleship, the churches are also an important center of spiritual and emotional renewal where overwhelmed will get their needs met, and where they will be able to explore from other parents first hand how to raise their children in a godly and practical way.

So – how difficult is Christian parenting today? No more and no less difficult than it was 20 or 30 years ago. The names of the villains have changed, and the circumstances are different, but essentially you are pretty much in the same boat as the last generation.

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