Capturing the Heart of Your Child

Capturing the heart of your child - it's the desire of all Christian parents. Today we are in Proverbs 23 with the Good Morning Girls. We find a verse in this chapter that speaks to the desire of our hearts as mothers and fathers.

My son, give me your heart,  

and let your eyes observe my ways.

~Proverbs 23:26

We want our children's attention when we teach them, don't we? One of the best ways I've found in parenting to make sure I have the attention of my children, at whatever age, is to have them look me in the eyes when I am speaking to them. When we have their attention in this way, we have their hearts and are better able to plant the knowledge that we wish for them to learn.

But even before we reach this point, our children must be willing to give us their hearts. How do we accomplish this?

I think it is by the trust we build with them as they see us live out the godly principles we are teaching to them. As our verse today says, their eyes are observing our ways.


If I want my children to trust me with their hearts, I need to be living the life I'm teaching them to live. In our house, personal daily devotions is a part of our day. Our son knows he is to read a chapter a day in his Bible. He sees my husband and I each have our own devotional time with our Bibles every day. 

We pray together before eating our meals, and sometimes our son is the one who will lead the prayer. Other times, it may be me or my husband who prays and thanks God for the food He has blessed us with. 

Another way we live out the faith we are seeking to plant in the heart of our son is through family devotions. My husband leads us each night in reading a chapter of the Bible and praying for our prayer requests.

Our son is seeing us live out everything that we are teaching him to do in his relationship with the Lord. This is so important. How can we expect these daily spiritual disciplines to take root in his own heart if he does not see us actively living out these spiritual disciplines in our lives?

Our children also need to learn how to control their emotions. Again, we are the example which they observe.

How do we react when a beverage is spilled at the dinner table?

How do we react when muddy shoes track over our just cleaned kitchen floor?

Are we quick to get angry?

Our children need to hear us say, "I'm sorry" when we blow it with them. We need to be willing to be humble with them and ask for their forgiveness if we've reacted in a way that doesn't glorify God.

Yes, friends, the greatest impact we can have in capturing the hearts of our children happens on the inside of our homes where they see who we really are. 

Let's be very careful that our actions line up with our teaching so that we can gain their trust and attention to our words. Then, we will have captured their heart.

Walking in His Grace, 

Laurie

I'm Blogging Through the Bible with Courtney Joseph and other Good Morning Girls! Click on the image below every Friday to read other posts from more sweet friends who are BTTB too!

Each week, I am blessed to be able to link-up with the following awesome blogs. While you're here at Grace-Filled-Moments, please take some time to visit my blogging friends listed below.

Sunday: Raising Samuels Homeschool
Monday: My Joy-Filled Life, Just Another Mom, The Modest Mom, A Life in Balance

Tuesday: F. Dean Hackett ~ Tell It To Me Tuesday, Time-Warp Wife Titus 2sDay, Hip Homeschool Moms
Wednesday: A Little R&R, Messy Marriage, Mom's Morning Coffee, Soul Survivor, Wholehearted Home
Thursday:  Hearts for Home, I Choose Joy, The Evolution of Mom
Friday:  A Divine Encounter, Count My Blessings, Missional Women, Women Living Well, home of Good Morning Girls