1. Never pray as a family or let your children hear you praying in your home.

2. Neglect the Word of God in your home–Reading the Bible is best done at church.

3. Allow any trivial thing such as company, homework, headache, or a social event to stop you from attending church. This will reinforce in the young person’s mind that worldly things are more important than God.

4. Make sure your children have no confidence in God’s people–especially preachers–by criticizing them often in their hearing.

5. Make sure they spend ample time in front of the television or playing video games. This will assure that
their lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes will be completely undisciplined and their thoughts will be well programmed in worldly things.

Of course, none of us really want to hinder our children from walking with Jesus, but if we’re not careful,
we will find ourselves doing just that. God help us to put prayer, Bible-reading, and church attendance high on our “to do” list. And please, Lord, “set a watch…before my mouth, keep the door of my lips.” (Psalms 141:3). I have seen many a young person “poisoned” by hearing too many critical remarks from their parents.

As television becomes more trashy, and the world around us is slipping more into ungodliness, we need to be more diligent about the kind of things our children are feeding their minds on. Teach us your ways, Oh, Lord, and help us to train our children in a way that they delight in You.