I smiled while walking past my grandson Noah’s timeout chair. It is a creative one, a simple plastic child’s chair marked with scripture by his daddy, Kyle Romine. When Kyle places Noah in this chair for bad behavior, he quotes the written scripture. He has been training Noah to realize the Bible speaks against misbehaving.

A few weeks ago, my daughter Courtney caught Noah quoting the fruit of the Spirit to his sister Josephine. In his toddler two-year-old voice, he sweetly repeated what he had been told: love, joy, peace, etc. Kyle has repeatedly instructed Noah with this Biblical tool for discipline and it’s working. Noah may not fully comprehend exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, but someday he will.

At times, Noah misbehaves and exasperates his parents, but they love him enough to consistently correct his behavior. The tool his daddy uses now is a scripture-marked time-out chair, but other forms of godly discipline through the years will produce a well-behaved man.

Daddies involved in discipline and child-rearing are needed. Father involvement using authoritative parenting (loving and with clear boundaries and expectations) leads to better emotional, academic, social, and behavioral outcomes for children. Their children are two times more likely to attend college, eighty percent less likely to spend time in jail, and seventy-five percent less likely to deal with teen pregnancy. Behavior problems, anxiety, and fears have been linked to children with absentee fathers (“A Father’s Impact on Child Development.” Children’s Bureau, 12 May 2023, www.all4kids.org.) 

With these researched facts it’s no surprise God’s word gives clear instructions to fathers.  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4). It doesn’t take a harsh hand but a gentle, nurturing, hand to counsel children against fault and oversight. Children are born with sinful natures as well as witnessing the evils of this world. Daddies are desperately needed to steer kids in the right direction. They may do so as spiritual leaders using the tool of God’s Word when correcting ungodly behaviors.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6