Experiencing God at Home by Richard Blackaby, Tom Blackaby

on time.
    Medic: One who attends to the medical needs of others.
    As a parent, you will be observing and assessing symptoms, suggesting medications, and prescribing rest. You’ll inevitably have to console a child who has been hurt, take kids to the emergency room, and discuss their medical issues with the family doctor. Occasionally this role can consume enormous amounts of time. There are few times your children will appreciate you more than when they are sick.
    Maid/Cook
    You know the routine! Doing laundry, making beds, vacuuming bedrooms and playrooms, ironing clothes, cooking meals, making lunches, providing snacks, doing dishes, baking cakes, making cookies, hosting parties (and cleaning up after them). Parenting is not for the lazy or selfish! Sometimes it is just a lot of hard (never-ending) work.
    Spiritual Leader: Moving people on to God’s agenda.
    Sometimes parents want the Sunday school teacher or youth pastor to play this role on their behalf, but nothing can replace parents helping their children to know and love God. We need to point our children to God’s answers to life’s issues that are found in the Bible. We must teach our children to pray and turn to God in times of trouble. Parents shape their children’s attitudes about church and ministry. Parents will also affect their children’s view of God, especially God as a “Father.” That is one role we cannot abdicate or be careless about.
    Parents Must Grow Along with Their Children
    As children advance into each stage of life, they need their parents to mature in their roles along with them.
    Toddlers
    Young children need hands-on, involved parents. We are controllers at this stage of their life. Parents of preschoolers must: organize playtime, dress their children, choose TV/video shows, mandate nap time (yay!), and maintain the schedule throughout the day. Discipline is relatively straightforward at this age. Young children should have a healthy respect for authority and an aversion to the consequences of bad behavior. And of course, toddlers need lots of love as they develop their identity and character.
    Children
    As our children mature out of the toddler stage, they assume greater responsibility for themselves. Rather than being underfoot all day, they go off to school, lessons, and sporting events. Now they come home from school asking to play at a friend’s house or handing us a birthday party invitation to reply to. Rather than telling our kids what their schedule is, they are telling us what they want to do and where they need to go. We still provide plenty of guidance, but increasingly they are couched as suggestions rather than mandates. We were the primary adults in our toddler’s world. Our older children are influenced by a wider circle of people, such as friends, schoolteachers, coaches, music instructors, youth leaders, and pastors. Our role must change from controllers to managers .
    Teens
    Teenagers require different things from us than do our toddlers or middle-school children. Let the roller coaster begin! We may feel as if we need a master’s degree in child psychology, mental health, behavioural sciences, conflict negotiations, stress management, and sports nutrition! During these occasionally turbulent years, our teenagers no longer need us (or want us) to tell them what to wear, what music to listen to, or what they should eat. New roles are required as we help our teenagers navigate life, love, jobs, career choices, responsibilities, disappointments, and relationships. Though they are becoming young adults, teenagers still need tremendous amounts of affirmation and support as they face increasing pressures and dangers. Raising teens can be especially challenging for parents who struggled themselves as teenagers and who may still carry scars from that era themselves. At this point, parenting moves from management to consultant . We can’t make our adolescent offspring do very much. This stage of parenting can only be