Good parenting is not that common In an article on parenting recently by the Christian Institute, parents were said to sometimes be reluctant to discipline their children, not because it wasn’t in their best interests, but because they were more concerned about how they as parents would be viewed. They were more concerned with self-image than good parenting. Call in supernanny Today, lack of biblical parenting, or good parenting in general, has led to many parents not really knowing the basics of how to love and bring up their children properly. They don’t know the basics of discipline and care that are love in practice. So much so, that supernanny is called in to some homes to try to re-establish some sort of order amid chaos. The programme is not popular because there are a few isolated cases of poor parenting, but because these situations strike a chord in so many homes. Her solutions are therefore practical to many viewers. Have a look at this short summary of one family to see how quickly some proper loving discipline is effective and makes home life so much better and enjoyable. Let’s make supernanny redundant In this week’s Bible passage, Paul briefly reminds both children and parents (fathers, mainly) how they ought to relate to each other. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1–4, NIV) When parents put into practice the basics of ‘loving’ discipline, not just discipline, or worst of all harsh, unloving discipline, children generally respond well quite quickly. Sometimes it takes longer. Discipline can take many different forms, and doesn’t need to be smacking, although with younger toddlers it is sometimes the only thing that will protect them from danger (e.g. from putting their hand onto dangerous objects such as a heater or fire because they don’t respond to ‘reason’ like older children or adults) or make them learn quickly (removal of privileges later on doesn’t always have the desired effect on younger children). Children ought to obey their parents (in the Lord = when being told to do what is right), and parents, especially fathers, ought to love their children and not be harsh on them. There is much more to parenting than that, but Paul reminds both of their mutual responsibilities in some key areas. These are in the context of submitting to each other that he introduced in Ephesians 5:21. If Christian parents put this into practice, there would be no need to call in supernanny!