15 Ways to Prevent Power Struggles with Your Child

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Parenting is a great joy, but also a great responsibility. God has entrusted us with children that are ours, but are really his. We need to love and guide them, which includes sometimes disciplining them, but always remembering their dignity as children made in the image and likeness of God.

Guiding and disciplining children becomes particularly difficult when they decide to challenge back and try to engage the parent in a power struggle. This is a result of human nature - as children discover their freedom, they test it to discover how far they can go with it and establish their boundaries.  Incidentally, I think this issue is becoming more intense for modern parents because challenging authority has become the "thing to do" in today's society. So many video games, movies, advertisements and books encourage kids to defy the norm and challenge what they're told. Granted, challenging authority can sometimes be a good thing. If an earthly authority is going against God's law, it should definitely be challenged. But parents are PART of God's law for their children. God gave parents authority over their children for the children's best interest, so power struggles against parents should not be encouraged.

Head over to Eyes On Heaven to read about 15 positive parenting techniques parents can use to help avoid power struggles, while still teaching their kids how to use their freedom. 

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