Quotes from Michael Pearl

When a man calls himself an atheist, he is not attacking God; he is attacking his own conscience.

God hates divorce-always, forever, regardless, without exception.

The root of all sin is found in the runaway indulgence of God-given desires.

Before he can DECIDE to do good, his parents must CONDITION him to do good.

Parents must be sensitive to their role in the child's moral development. One day he is going to choose without you. Will he make the right choice? No amount of training is going to override the certainty of sin developing in the child's life, but the training parents give can lessen the child's addiction to the flesh and make it easier for repentance to follow his sinful indulgence.

You hold an eternal soul in your hands. You cannot afford to give in to weariness, indifference, laziness, or careless neglect. God chose you two as the parents of these children! It is now your responsibility to determine what level of understanding your child possesses and to hold him accountable at that level.

Everything a child experiences, either by way of indulgence or the self-restraint you impose, is preparing him for the day when he will mature into a responsible, moral soul. Somewhere on that road of development, each child will graduate to commence his full accountability. That child then stands alone before God, "without excuse." It becomes his day of accountability.

It may take several times, but if you are consistent, they will learn to consistently obey, even in your absence.

Parent, you can't blame your children if you have trained them to obey only after several warnings, threats, an ultimatum or two, and finally with a gesture of force. It's not their fault. It's yours.

It is important that sons and daughters be able to trust their parents with personal, intimate knowledge.

Always treat your children with respect. Never ridicule, mock, or laugh at your child's ideas, creations, or ambitions. The trust you desire to have when they are older must be established and maintained when they are young.

If you raise your voice when giving a command to your child, he will learn to associate your tone and sound level with your intention. If you have trained him to respond to a bellow, don't blame him if he ignores your first thirteen calm "suggestions" while waiting for your fevered pitch to reach the point where he interprets it to be a real command.

As infants grow, they learn to manipulate their surroundings to their own gratification. A smile, grunt, kicking of the feet, rolling and shaking the head, crying, and screaming all say, "Pick me up, feed me, look at me. Doesn't anyone realize I have urgent needs? What could be more important than me?

FROM BIRTH, PARENTS MUST ASSUME CONTROL AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN. During the early years, we certainly do not want to destroy the child's natural drives, but we must constrain him to exercise temperance and self-control.

Parents cannot impart righteousness to their children, but they can help them develop a firm commitment to righteousness. Parents cannot write the law on the hearts of their children, but they can weave the law and the gospel into their developing consciences.

As my boys got into their later teens, I found that upon occasion they did have fresh ideas that were better than my "old fashioned" way of doing things.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6). Train up—not beat up. Train up—not discipline up. Train up—not educate up. Train up—not "positive affirmation" up. Training is the most often missed element in child rearing. A child needs more than "obedience training," but without first training him, discipline is insufficient.

It just takes a few minutes to train a child not to touch a given object. Most children can be brought into complete and joyous subjection in just three days. Thereafter, if you are consistent, the children will remain happy and obedient.

Wouldn't it be better to take a little time to train him in his young and tender years? If nothing else, training will result in saving you time.

As long as parents remain consistent, the child will consistently obey. This "obedience training" is conducted with quiet patience. The spanking is not punishment and is not very painful. It merely gives weight to your words.

A newborn soon needs training. Parents who put off training until their child is old enough to discuss issues or receive explanations will find he has become a terror long before he can tie his shoes.

Are you training your children to have the confidence to walk on the edge to save someone else? It takes a boot camp to produce a soldier. Your home should be life's boot camp. Children strong in body and spirit are not born; they are made one experience at a time.

Parents just don't realize what they are doing to their children when they provide a diet that makes their children overweight. The harm is permanent.

Disciplinary actions can easily become excessive and oppressive if you set aside the tool of training and depend on discipline alone to do the training.