WHAT WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED?

Today's promise: God celebrates family

What was the most effective discipline you have experienced?

"Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, "What are you going?"

1 Kings 1:6 NLT

Rebounding skills

Suppose you get home from grocery shopping and discover your six-year-old is eating candy you didn't buy. It might be tempting to just scold him, send him to his room, and let it go at that. After all, it's only worth a dollar, and you're tired. But you'd miss an opportunity to turn this "miss" into a second chance.

It would be better to take away any uneaten candy, put your little shoplifter back in the car, drive to the grocery store, hunt up the manager, and tell your kid to apologize. Pay for the candy and deduct it from the child's allowance. Then, if the culprit is truly sorry, be sure to express your forgiveness — and God's forgiveness, too.

You've just boxed out the opposition and put your kid in position to rightly rebound. Because there will come another time in that grocery store or when he's passing a coveted pair of Nikes or — who knows?

Ricky Birdsong in Coaching Your Kids in the Game of Life

The Bible tells us that parents have the primary responsibility for the spiritual development of our children. And nowhere is the job given only to mothers and grandmothers. As Moses told the people of Israel, "Repeat [the command of God] again and again to your children" (Deut. 6:7). Why not begin today?

Adapted from Men of Integrity Devotional Bible with devotionals by the editors of Men of Integrity magazine (Christianity Today, Intl), Tyndale House Publishers (2002), p 391

It is easier to build boys than to mend men.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House