throw a fit, we simply reinforce and encourage angry behavior as a means for them to get their way.
5. Colossians 3:21 gives us the reason for not provoking our children:

Fathers, do not exasperate your children, that they may not lose heart.

B. DISCIPLINE YOUR CHILDREN IN THE LORD.

1. What is discipline?

a. It means to teach. It is the same root word as disciple.
b. Discipline is not senseless beatings. It is designed to teach.
c. It has the flavor of pointing out what is wrong and correcting the action.
d. PROVERBS 19:18 Discipline your son while there is hope, And do not desire his death. There is proper timing for discipline. You will not be successful if you wait until you kids are problem teenagers. Discipline must start at an early age.

2. Why discipline?

a. HEBREWS 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
b. PROVERBS 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
c. 2 TIMOTHY 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
d. Eli who was the priest and prophet before Samuel ruined his family because he did not discipline his sons.

C. INSTRUCT YOUR CHILDREN IN THE LORD.

1. We’re not only told to discipline our children but that we should give them instruction of the Lord. What is meant by instruction is both verbal information and verbal warning. The word literally means “to place before the mind.” Instruction contains the idea of teaching and also the element of confrontation. We must share with our children both the blessings of serving Jesus and the hazards of failing to do so.
2. Instruction is teaching that regulates character.
3. READ 1 Samuel 3:11-13 This passage is interesting because the Greek word for “rebuke” in the Septuagint is the same root as the word for “instruction” here in Ephesians 6:4. Instruction means that at times we must aggressively confront our children with the truth.
4. DEU 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
5. Whatever we do, however, it is our responsibility to nurture, train, and instruct our children in what it means to follow Jesus. The greatest gift we could ever give our children would be a desire to know Jesus. To do that we must use every opportunity to share with them by our lips and lives just how important Jesus is to us. As we live before them, honestly admitting our faults and mistakes, genuinely seeking to be all God would have us be, then we will be doing all we can do to assure that one day they will come to know Jesus.

CONCLUSION
Say, are you bringing your children up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord"?

There’s a wide-eyed little youngster
Who believes you’re always right;
And his ears are always open,
And he watches day and night;
You are setting an example
Every day in all you do,
For the little one who’s watching
To grow up and be like you!