Good advice...

J.C. Ryle has an old little book called “The duties of parents.” Dealing with parents and children for a long time now I have seen a lot of the same mistakes made over and over. Ryle has a good few quotes that I think address a number of them directly. For instance-
“Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys, these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily, these are the clues you must follow if you would find the way to his heart.”
“Try hard to keep up a hold on your child’s affections. It is a dangerous thing to make your children afraid of you.”
“Instruction, and advice, and commands, will profit little, unless they are backed up by the pattern of your own life. Your children will never believe you are in earnest, and really wish them to obey you, so long as your actions contradict your counsel.”
A lot of problems families face could be fixed if those few, simply pieces of advice were taken to heart and lived out. I find parents, in the busyness of life, and facing the pride, selfishness, and lack of patience that we all sometimes struggle with, often miss out on that first bit the most. Do you seriously consider (and let your heart ache over) the very real struggles and troubles that your children have? Do you long to partner with your children to help them, to “enter into childish troubles” as Ryle says? If not, you will find your child is not “led most easily”, but will instead find trouble finding “the way to his heart.”
His whole book can be read for free online here-
http://www.biblebb.com/files/ryle/parentsjc.htm