Read Proverbs 22:6

When it comes to rearing children, developing a strong home where happiness and harmony can flourish, there is a primary starting point: knowing your child. 

This is the most profound insight, the single most helpful secret I can pass on to you on the subject of child rearing.

Do not think that just because you have conceived, carried, and finally given birth to your little one, you automatically know your child. Nor can you say you know him or her just because you live in the same house. I must say, categorically, you do not. 

Knowing your child takes time, careful observation, diligent study, prayer, concentration, help from above, and, yes, wisdom. Notice I did not include in that list a high IQ or some course in school. The two essential ingredients are desire and time. 

If you really want to know, and if you're willing to invest the time, God will honour your efforts. He will enable you to know your child.

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.