Loving our children as parents

Session Two: Building a strong family Overview Session One: Healthy Relationships Session Two: Building a strong family Session Three: Meeting Our Children’s needs Session Four: Building Personal Responsibility Session Five: Teaching Healthy Relationships Session Six: Our long term aim—loving our kids so they live God’s Kingdom

Session Two: Building a strong family

Our journey from fear based parenting to loving our children

The world says that parenting is making our kids obey us and do what we say. God’s model to us is about developing self-control and protecting our loving relationship. Families should meet three needs: Physical—food and shelter Training, modeling and equipping in life skills Emotional and relational needs of children

When all these needs are met, we call that family functional. Functional families Consider problems and conflicts to be part of life. Each day, they look to God for supernatural empowering, wisdom and love. The parents see the issues and work to resolve them from a love-based approach.

Dysfunctional families When the family needs are not being met, we call that family dysfunctional. In some families, the relationships are damaging and wounding. Children are taught lies about themselves that can cause lifelong damage. These lies are the same ones that the parents learned about themselves. Dysfunctional families deny problems and sweep them ’under the carpet’. Feelings and emotions are not important, so they are never dealt with and problems are never solved.

What is a family for? A family provides support as our children will experience rejection, disappointment and failure. We get our nurture from our mothers but our identity from our fathers. A family provides fun A family provides a moral compass so children learn about good and bad behaviour, personal responsibility and learn values such as honesty, generosity, sexual morality, etc. A family proves a model for relating to other people. Our children learn to relate in the family through experiencing, observing, modelling and practising relationships. In the family, our relationship with God is experienced .

Developing our child’s self worth and identity

Our parenting style impacts a child’s life

Developing our child’s self worth and identity What impact do you think the father’s words and actions had on his son? Why do you think the father was acting this way? What experiences have you had from your parents? How has this shaped your parenting approach? What approach do you as a couple use with your children?

Parent/Child relationships   Parents give children confidence by developing in their lives— Security Self-worth Significance The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17  Mother and Father relationships Sibling to Sibling relationships

Building family strengths Communication Togetherness   Shared activities Acceptance  Affection Support Commitment Resilience Building family strengths

ESTABLISHING A HEALTHY FAMILY LIFE   Healthy Play Healthy Bonding Healthy Routines and Habits

“That’s all for now folks!”