Good parenting theology...for a change!

[mwwr]

Perhaps this would fit better in theology, but I saw it as a good comeback to refute some of the garbage often used to justify punitive parenting.

"What Jeremiah teaches is that is is a wicked thing for parents to put their own needs and desires ahead of the needs and desires of their children...Parents who love themselves more than they love their children are not parenting the way God intends. How you spend your money, how you discipline your children, and how you use your time all reveal whether you make sacrifices for your children, or whether you offer them up as sacrifices for yourself."

--p.143 of Philip Graham Ryken's commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations

The passage is comparing the spiritual condition of the Israelites who practiced child sacrifice to the modern-day Americans who put themselves first in everything and sacrifice their children on the altar of their own convenience. It seemed to me a good refutation for those who place children's needs as subordinate to the needs of the parents in a marriage/family relationship. Isn't that one of Ezzo's tenants? Thoughts? HTH.