Teaching good Christian manners to children

Many parents want to teach their children good manners. Bad manners come from entitlement, and parents are the main entitlement group in this country, as well as all of the adults that point to them. Children need a good Christian example to learn manners.

The Greek root word denoting entitlement is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and refers to wanting things from or of children to the point of seeking to impose said want onto a children, leading to offense perceived by the child, in which offense alone constitutes abuse. Demanding things from children is entitlement, leading to abuse when perceived as an offense. Just ask, and you shall receive. 

It says in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, warm rest and trust in parents, just as adult believers rest securely in the love and grace of Christ. Respect for parents is closeness, leading to respect and admiration for parents. Children demanded, and parents supplied. Parents could only ask children what they preferred of them in terms of behavior and views, and children will only be polite if you ask things of them politely. The Greek root word νουθεσία (Latin: nouthesia) refers to a warning, but a specific, agreed upon warning, meaning politely asking things of children, thus modeling good manners to them. Most children were free emotionally in terms of expression in relation to parents in the biblical context, and parents then did not correct their children in terms of manners, but appeared to children in a polite way. Parents were selfless, using attachment-based methods, namely breastfeeding children until age 3 and treating them until such, and did not speak forcefully to their children. Children, as they got older, took after the discipline and chastened attitudes of their father and their mother, thus learning manners by observing parents and taking after their traits.

In order to earn trust from a child, and win them over, all punishment and control needs to go. The Greek root word ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and literally translates to "stirring up" upset and resentment in children, as in the Hebrew idiom of "stirring the pot", referring ultimately to offenses against children, meaning the slightest of offense perceived by the child, including from corporal punishment or other forms of punishment or control as a parent. Any punishment imposed on a child gets in the middle of parent and child, and thus the Living Example of Christ imparted to children never gets communicated to the next generation. The Apostle Paul here was speaking of mirroring in children. Mirroring is known as a trait of autism, but most children mirror the behaviors of their parents - children with autism simply emphasize the normal developmental trait of mirroring in children. Mirroring can be taken advantage of in a righteous way to teach children manners. Be the change you want to see in your child, and don't be a parent hypocrite. Ultimately, Paul was warning Greek Christians of why you shouldn't punish your child - the anger will fly right back in your face, thus provoking them to anger. Greco-Roman culture was heavily reliant of punitive measures in parenting, whereas Judeo-Christian societies then supported attachment parenting, with corporal punishment being merely a sentence for crime in the Old Testament, and only for adults in connection with a capital offense. Christ died and sacrificed to abolish the death penalty and the corresponding corporal punishment that accompanied it, alongside all violence and warfare.

Teaching good manners means not correcting children on manners, and discouraging them, but treating them with good manners, say "please" and "thank you" to your child humbly and shamefacedly. Children learn by experiencing the example of their parents, meaning the kindness, generosity, and charity of parents convicted by the Lord to be beholden to their child's every need. Children will not master manners beforehand, but only after reaching their teens, when it all absorbs. Most children are demanding, and the idea is to show chivalry to the demands of children, bearing the brunt of their every demand, being polite and well-mannered even as they demand in a tone-deaf manner, simply not knowing yet about good Christian manners. Show them good manners, and you shall receive the same in return (Matt. 7:12). Show them demands, and they will demand everything, and it will be written off as "disrespect" or "manipulation", right parents?

The depraved and entitled parents will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them burn in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend downwards in the Hell of fire and torment, with God forever angry at the entitled parents who provoke children to anger, exacting His wrath on the evildoing parent! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!