Due to the multitude of insights and nuggets of wisdom I thought it would be beneficial to share.  What follows is simply a summary of the first-half of “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” by Tedd Tripp.  Enjoy.

What are the foundations for biblical childrearing?  Tedd Tripp answers this by submitting six truths:

1. Children are a product of two things: (1) Their physical makeup and their life experience and (2) their Godward orientation. As a result, parenting involves providing the best possible shaping influences in your child’s life and the careful shepherding of your child’s response to those influences. 
2. The heart determines behavior. As a result, parents must learn to work back from behavior to the heart.
3. Parents have authority not because they’re more intelligent, educated, seasoned, older, etc., but because God has said in His Word that you are His agent. This necessarily means that you are in your child’s life to point them to the reality of what it means to know and follow God.
4. The chief end of man (woman, boy, and girl) is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever then a parent must submit this worldview before their children.
5. Biblical goals must be fostered and accomplished through biblical methods, which means that a Christian parent must reject the methods the culture submits and be unwaveringly committed to God’s ways and truth.
6. God has given two methods for childrearing: (1) Communication and (2) the rod.  Both are biblical and needed; a parent must seek and ask for wisdom in striking a balance between communication and discipline.