By Rev. Daniel Yaw 

Introduction
The father of five children had won a wonderful toy at the supermarket’s lucky draw.  He called his kids together to ask which one should have the present. 
“Who is the most obedient?”, he asked.
“Who never talks back to mother?”
“Who does everything she says?”
Five small faces looked at each other and then five small voices answered in unison. “You play with it, Daddy!”
 
I am sure we all have our shares of woes as parents.  Being a grandfather already, I see that there are new challenges for the new generation of parents today.  There are also in reality, old challenges dressed in new clothes.  We will all have this problem – “What is the right teaching, right approach?”
 
Challenges faced today:
Parents in yesteryears and today face similar problems in the hope of raising good children.

The Balance of Profession and Parenting
We often feel torn between professional and parenting responsibilities. When we are focusing on one, we feel like we are neglecting the other! This is a common dilemma for today’s parents, who often have packed schedules.  Where then is the balance?  Will there ever be a balance?

Being afraid to say ‘NO’
We all want our kids to like us. We may even begin with a no and then slowly succumb to a yes.  We need to learn that we don’t need to say “yes” to everything. Otherwise, our children lived with the idea that they are always entitled to everything they want.

Ensuring children receive a quality education
Why are families getting smaller today?  When this is asked, the answer is normally, “We cannot afford to have more.”  The economic situation has created a lot of pressure on parents to earn enough money to meet the rising costs of education. Not only that, we feel we must get them the best and oftentimes a very expensive one.

Overload of information
Every parent would want to raise their children most uniquely with the feeling that their child is a special one.  This oftentimes leads to information overload with the amount of information available on the internet.  Furthermore, parents today are surely more educated than parents in the past.
 
With all those challenges, what would govern us as parents?  Proverbs 22:6 states, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
 
How then are we to do that?
 
Right Experiences
1 Timothy 4:7-8  “.......rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
 
Sometimes we have this imbalance of trying to shape them into educated geniuses, we forget that there are experiences in life that would shape their values.  Duties at home, consideration of others at meals, and accountability are some examples that we remove at the expense that they must do well in school.
 
Right Examples.
Prov 20:7,  ”The righteous man leads a blameless life, blessed are his children after him.”
 
We know too well that modeling is so important as much is caught rather than taught.  In the face of the pressure of trying to raise our children, would we be neglecting to show them the way to live our lives?  In the pressure of earning more to provide more, have we shown them the right priorities?
 
Right Teaching.
Teaching is inevitable.  But what do we teach our children?  Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is like the signpost of what we teach, involving the whole life, the whole family, and the whole law.  One must try to teach and provide real experiences with God.  We have heard it too often, “If my kids are close to the Lord, I will have fewer worries, no matter where they are.”  And it is so true.
 
Conclusion
Happy Father’s Day for June.  To all fathers and mothers, I pray that God will always provide wisdom in the changing times of today.  God is always the same.  Blessings.