1. Good parenting – just like our Heavenly Father
Love without smothering
Discipline without discouraging
Instruct without controlling
Provide without spoiling
Model without manipulating
Release without abandoning

2. Love without smothering God’s love is not claustrophobic
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Love without smothering
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country
… and dad and mum let him go!
God’s love is not claustrophobic

3. Love without smothering
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Love without smothering
Watch your own needs … be secure
Have your own life
Don’t feed off your children
Be sensitive about your hugs and kisses

4. Love without smothering
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Love without smothering
The apparent absence of God may be sign of his love.

5. Discipline without discouraging
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Discipline without discouraging
Discipline is not peer led – you’re a parent for a reason
Boundaries
Clarity
Minimise the nagging
Consistency
Choose your battles
Do it right early on and it will save your hours of grief

6. Discipline without discouraging
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Discipline without discouraging
If God is not training you, you probably aren't one of his children.

7. Instruct without controlling
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Instruct without controlling
Proverbs 22: 6
‘Teach them to your children’
Principle and law
Heart behind the law
Age appropriate decision making
Discussion

8. Instruct without controlling
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Instruct without controlling
Just because you can doesn’t mean it is right or best.

9. Provide without spoiling
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Provide without spoiling
Just because you can afford it doesn’t mean it is right
Teach and discuss value
Importance of waiting
Resisting media pressure
Teach generosity

10. Provide without spoiling
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Provide without spoiling
Every good and perfect gift comes from our Father in heaven.

11. Model without manipulating
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Model without manipulating
NO – to ‘poor mummy and daddy’
NO – to the silent treatment
NO – to wrong kind of guilt
NO – to bribery
NO – to fear of what other people think

12. Model without manipulating
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Model without manipulating
‘Will you also go away?

13. Release without abandoning
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Release without abandoning
We are always letting go
Trust God
- so keep practising
Absolutely vital
Always be there
Avoid the ‘I told you so’

14. Release without abandoning
Good parenting –
just like our Heavenly Father
Release without abandoning
‘But while he was still a long way off his father saw him…’