Parenting

We all go into parenting with ideas of how we will handle situations. I know that I certainly did. And I still do. Sometimes I have to change my plan or idea of how things will go. One thing is for certain, we do not tolerate disobedience in our house. Accidents and mistakes are one thing but willful disobedience is completely different. What I am finding out is that sometimes the consequence for disobedience not only affects the child but the parent or whole family as well.

Take today for example:

The plan was for the kids to go to the indoor park to play. One child decided to dump all of the toys out of the toy bin. He refused to pick them up. After timeouts and spankings, he still refused. But he wanted to go to the park still. He was told, more than once, that if he did not pick up the toys quickly that he would not be able to go. Bummer for everyone. Part of this reasoning was, 1. there wouldn't be enough time to play and 2. willful disobedience. I think this is where the hard part of parenting comes in. You know you can't give in and yet you want to because you want them to get out of the house for a while. So, the toys got taken away for the rest of the day. We'll see how that goes.......

We teach our children by rules, consistency, and follow-through. I hate when I am out and I see a child whining about something at a store and after hearing the mom say no a dozen times, she gives in just to get the child to be quiet.

Biblical philosophy: let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Kids pick up on our weaknesses, our frustration, and they use that to their advantage. As parents, it is our job to train our children in what is right, what is honorable, and what is Godly. I write this as an encouragement as much to myself as to other parents. Keep the good fight. Train your children in the way they should go. Remember that you are not the only one dealing with these issues.

Let me know how you handle these hard situations. I'm always looking for new ideas.