Parental Responsibility
  This may be the first time you have realized that you are, and have the right to be, the ruler over your children. Since God has placed you in this position, you should function as one who has the right to rule. In other words, your children need to know that you are in charge. This means that you make the decisions, not the children. You are to decide when it is time for bed, what is to be eaten or not eaten, and what activities are permitted. These decisions belong to the parent until the child has been trained to make the right decisions himself. The parent even decides when and in what areas the child is allowed to make his own decisions.

Children need an authority figure. If parents do not provide the needed leadership, their children will seek it elsewhere. Without firm leadership in the home, children will find someone outside of the family who will tell them what to do. Children desperately need someone whom they can follow and to whom they can give their allegiance. God has made their souls to respond to parental authority; therefore, they will find a replacement if the parents abdicate their position.
It should be no surprise that leaderless children respond to cults, such as the Moonies and the Jones groups, street gangs, or revolutionary movements. These counterculture groups all have one thing in common – they demand followership. They each provide strong leadership, teach and enforce rules, and set a purpose for the life of the follower. Dare we as parents offer less?

FYI: Just added to the tape library: Welcome to the Family by Steven Bly. Includes: What Every Dad Should Know; What Your Kids Deserve; Your Mate's Best Friend; Getting Your Kids to Like Each Other; Doing Crazy Things as a Family.  These tapes are full of great advice to help you. If you are a person who will listen to teaching tapes, this set is highly recommended by the pastor's wife. 

Lo, the children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Psalm 127:3