Proverbs 19:18:
Chasten your son while there is hope,
And do not set your heart on his destruction.
My husband and I have always had the parenting philosophy that we’d rather handle it now than later. What do I mean? That we’re not going to wait until our child is five years old to start instructing them to not whine or to be kind to their sibling. We’re not going to wait until they are ten to start teaching them to pick up after themselves. We’re going to handle it now. We’re going to teach them now. We’re going to deal with issues that arise now. I fully realize that just because I teach my child something now doesn’t mean that I won’t have to teach them again when they are or five or ten or even eighteen years old. But I firmly believe that it is easier to mold a child when they are younger than when they’ve already become set in bad habits (trust me, I know it is hard for me to change my bad habits!). Proverbs 19:18 encourages me to “chasten [my child] while there is still hope.” I’m reminded every day of how precious my time is with my children, and how quickly they are growing up. I should not take that time for granted whether that be in anything from forming memories to correcting them to teaching them about God’s Word.