By Justin Whitmel Earley
- Our routines become who we are.
- You already have patterns in your family and life, but are they ones that bring glory to God?
- To steward the habits of your family is to steward the hearts of your family.
- When there’s a decision between your head and your habits, your heart will always follow your habits.
- We are tasked not just to learn the right things, but to practice the right things.
- Your head might ask if you want to be patient and respond lovingly to your children, but if your habit is to be impatient, and to respond sharply, that is who you really are. The habits must change.
- Your habits in parenting are forming your children’s habits of life.
- Good theology leads to good practice.
- Letting your children observe your habits is the best way to teach habits in a household.
- Decide you will search the Scriptures in the morning before you scroll social media.
- The smallest routines build the strongest habits.
- One of the keystone habits you can do in your family is come together for a meal.
- Mealtimes are much more than just food, they are time for fellowship and communication.
- Discipling our children through discipline is one of the hardest things to do as a parent, but God teaches that you discipline those that you love.
- Making a habit of pausing before you discipline your children is a habit that could help you as parents.
- Parents need a habit of praying and talking to themselves. Remind yourself that you need God’s help, and that you are not perfect.
- Parents need parenting. Go to God and do not try to parent alone.
- Remember that love is more powerful than anger.
- Don’t forget the importance of repenting in front of your children when the opportunity is given. Set the example.
- It is so much easier to give your kids a screen so you can relax, but you must fight for their formation. Do not let a screen form your child when you can fight for their formation.
- Choose movies that have a good storyline, not just provide entertainment.
- Realize that you are a much better parent for your children than Google or Hollywood, so take the time to make a good watchlist.
- Watch communally, and process communally. If something is showed on a movie, discuss it with your children, do not overlook it.
- Date night is a habit of your covenant. Yes you are parents, but first you are a marriage.
- Rehearse the covenant of marriage in front of your children so they will see the importance of marriage.
- Your children need habits of play time with them. You cannot and should not dedicate all your time to play, but they do need habits of enthusiastic play time with you.
- Parenting is one long process of revealing who you are.
- Parenting does not make us less selfish, contrarily, it only reveals our selfishness.
- Biblical parenting cannot be accomplished without faith.
- You cannot make up, change, or say you will one day do something. You must begin now.
- It is only the grace of Jesus that our children turn out right. And God uses our habits to help form them for the future.
- We learn the most in life by imitation.
- The greatest thing we can do is to point our children to Christ. Our habits reflect our love and priority of God.