A good part of this knowing and following God’s word seems to be to teach our children to honor us as parents.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12
This one is so important to God, that it is one of the Ten Commandments. We spend a good deal of time teaching our children many things, but a good look at society, and even into the church, indicates we are all weak here. Remember that much of what our society teaches is just the opposite. TV and the movies often have the parents as adversaries to the children. So a good deal of this work can be accomplished through the proper handling (or disconnecting of) TV and movies. Also, even more critical is our example of how we honor our parents. We are always teaching, but only sometimes instructing.
Of course, the best training for teaching our children to honor their parents is how we honor ours. Couple this with the fact that homeschooled families often have some disharmony at first with the grandparents. It seems that usually at least one set of the children’s grandparents seem to disagree with the decision to homeschool or to live by biblical standards. But we must still honor them. Remember, this commandment is for us also! We must remember that right or wrong, the grandparents might have different values, and might non-Christians. You must be careful what you say about or to the grandparents, while still not allowing them to be the head of your household. It can be a difficult situation, but a critical teaching element for your children.
If you are having struggles in the area of grandparent control, we suggest you seek the advice of a Christian counselor about how adults should honor their parents without letting them control their lives. An excellent book on the subject is Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.
