Does Growing Kids Gods Way teach authoritarian parenting?
GKGW teaches a biblically balanced philosophy of parenting. It avoids the extremes of authoritarianism (“do as I say, or else!”), and permissive parenting (“non-conflict” parenting). GKGW strongly emphasizes the need for parents to build trusting relationships with their children, and advocates parenting by the power of one’s relational influence over the children by the time they are teens. Authority is a temporary tool that is needed in the early years, and parents must work their way out of needing to use that authority by building an understanding and acceptance of God’s moral standards into their child’s life. Very much like training for sporting events (Paul uses the analogy of running a race), GKGW teaches four phases of parenting, the “discipline phase” where moral muscles are developed, the “training phase” where the moral instruction is applied to life under parental guidance, the “coaching phase” where parents are on the sidelines of life watching the children run the “moral
