Notes from a John Macarthur sermon
1. overprotect them
- don’t give them any room to express themselves
- force them into your mold
2. show favoritism
- make sure they know you like another better
- compare them to siblings and friends
3. put unreal expectations on them
- expect a toddler to understand everything
- expect them to act like an adult as a 7 year old
4. allow them to over indulge
- give them everything they want and don’t make them work for it
- let them do whatever they want and don’t correct them
5. discourage them
- don’t reward them
- don’t help them understand
6. don’t sacrifice for them
- make sure you are number one (and let them know it)
- make sure to save the best for yourself
7. never let them grow up
- don’t let them fail
- be sure to rescue them every time
- expect perfection not progress
- forget that even the best of men are not perfect
>make a big deal about knocking over a drink
>make sure to freak out about the little kid things they do
8. neglect them
- treat your kids like king David treated Absalom and Adonijah
- don’t teach them the Word, expect someone else to do it
9. use abusive words toward them
- cut their little heart to shreds with your sharp tongue
- forget that they have sensitive ears and soft hearts
10. physically abuse them
- forget that many an angry child is, many times, an over beaten, over zealously punished child who frequently comes from the home of an angry parent who cares that he has been inconvenienced Not that the child needs to be corrected for his or her own good.
11. don’t target the heart
- make sure to just aim at the surface of a problem, don’t go for the real issue of the heart of your child
