20 LIVING TO MAKE CHILDREN HAPPY PRODUCES
UNHAPPY FAMILIES.

“Honey, does that make you happy?” asked the doting parent.

We live to please God, not please our children. Children don’t always know what’s best for them. They rarely understand what they want as opposed to what they need. They must be trained and taught by a godly parent.

Parents get their clue for parenting from God’s word, not from always trying to make their children happy. The truth is, parents can’t make a child happy or sad. Children, like adults, are responsibility for their own feelings.

We can help children make right choices. We can teach children right from wrong. Children can learn that right choices made now can reap a harvest of long-term blessings and joy.

Too many parents try to bribe children with something that “makes them happy” for the moment. But the next bribe must always be bigger and better. The result will be long-term misery for both the child and the parent.

Please God, bless and teach your child. Happiness in life is not your goal or your child’s. Knowing, serving, and pleasing God are the goals.

Even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts (1 Thess. 2:4).