Family Violence
Safety in the home is more than protection from physical harm. The absence of abuse, divorce or trauma does not always result in a healthy family. Often there is no divorce or abuse but there is also no acceptance and intimacy.
The home must be a safe place to be - to express emotions and feelings, to allow for personality differences and to provide shelter from an often intolerant and unloving world.
Raising our children to be healthy is joyful and rewarding.
The following are characteristics of a healthy nonviolent home:
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Freedom to make meaningful choices about faith
Christ is our model for living and the Bible is our guidebook. Prayer is key. Jesus must be taught, lived and modeled. The decision to follow Christ must be the child's decision, not the parent's.
Children and teens need to have the freedom to ask questions about their faith. They need to be reassured that doubt doesn't always mean unbelief, but that searching is a forerunner to acceptance and solidifying ones faith beliefs and convictions.
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Models of healthy relationships & good marriages
Children need parents who love each other because children learn by what they see and experience. Children need caring, loving adults in their lives who provide models of women and men relating with mutual respect, joy and kindness.
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Freedom to express emotions
A healthy home should be a place where members can safely and freely express their emotions. Adults need to give children appropriate physical touch.
There needs to be allowance for mistakes and expression of anger. Teach children to use words that describe feelings. Explain and teach children how to resolve conflicts in positive ways, without violence.
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Good decision-making skills are taught
Learning skills that lead to good life choices begins at home during early childhood. Teaching children age appropriate skills for weighing the positives and negative impacts of their decisions, allows a life time of practicing good decision making.
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Unconditional love characterizes the home
Unconditional love means protecting a child's spirit and sense of self-worth even when they don't perform to our satisfaction. Most children do well and try hard at everything they take on.
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