Here are some sample questions we’ve received for The Book on Parenting Q&A Session (Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 29 @ 6:00pm).  There’s still time to submit your question if you haven’t done so!

You can submit questions by replying to this email or emailing Pastor Steve directly: steve@gccbg.com

Q. Assuming we agree that goals are a good thing – what are some reasonable goals for parenting in the early years (18 months to 4 years old)?

 

Q. Is it important to establish boundaries for our children in the home?

 

Q. Should a child be spanked for every disobedience or poor behavior?

 

Q. When is a child too young to spank? Too old?

 

Q. What if a mother and father disagree on how and when to discipline?

 

Q. Spanking never seems to work for me – my child responds better to “time out”. Is this a problem?

 

Q. Should a parent try to force a child to eat?

 

Q. What are some real life examples of ways to begin instilling a vivid and sure knowledge of God, their failure and inability to please Him and their need for His grace and mercy in their lives? We know it is ultimately up to God and that He is the one who does the drawing. (Which is comforting and terrifying all in the same breath.) But what can and should we be doing, even at this young age, to point them to their utterly desperate need of Christ and His grace, mercy and favor?

Q. If rewards are effective tools in training our children – and if they should be given right away – why doesn’t God deal with us that way?

 

Q. We are obviously trying to model God and the way He parents His children but sometimes when I do things wrong, God doesn’t seem to “clearly” punish me for that specific act.  I might feel guilt or sadness about what I did but there are plenty of times where “nothing” happens.  I know this is His grace being afforded to me but how does that work with our own children?  It would seem to be confusing to a child when sometimes they get disciplined for specific acts of disobedience and and other times we just look the other way or don’t discipline the same way each time.  How are we to show grace in the way God does and make it recognizable as grace without confusing the child about our expectations and the consequences of their disobedience to them?