There seems to be a whirlwind of information floating around my circle of my mommy friends in regards to parenting styles and discipline. I have spent the last hour pouring over some of the info that has come up and I want to poke my eyeballs out with a fork.
It’s not that I’m against learning and reading new thoughts and ideas. On the contrary, most of the info I found was info I asked for. It’s more everybody’s desperation to be right and the lack of dealing with the heart of the issue which is the heart.
I will never forget the first time Nolan sinned against me. He was 3 months old and I had been snuggling and rocking him and making sure he was ready to go down for a nap. I put him down and he screamed, so I picked him up. Then I put him down and walked out and he screamed, so I would wait a minute and go back in and pick him up. This cycle went on for 45 minutes. The last time I went in exhausted he smiled at me and then I walked out and he screamed. Not gonna lie, I picked him up defeated and nursed him and then he played. Though he couldn’t make the moral choice, his actions clearly stated, “I WILL NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO! I WANT TO DO WHAT I WANT TO DO.” (All of my attachment parenting friends are hot under the collar right about now. I read your stuff and respectfully disagree, so don’t hate me for this post. Love you all!)
So this is what I want to ask; When does sin corrupt us? Because that is the root of your 2 year old spitting out her food at you. (Love you Linda!) IT’S SIN THAT MAKES OUR KIDS NAUGHTY! WHY ARE WE NOT TALKING AND TEACHING THEM ABOUT THAT EVERY MOMENT OF EVERYDAY? THEY NEED JESUS! Yeah, I just yelled. Seriously, sin is the root of what makes ALL of us say I DON’T WANT TO DO WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO. I WANT TO DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. Sin and it’s root and causes and how we are freed from it are what we should be modeling and teaching our children. They are fearfully and wonderfully made image-bearers of the ONE TRUE GOD and yet, they are also fully black hearted sinners that need the blood of Jesus to set them free and make them new. How are we preaching the Gospel to our kids? Are they seeing Jesus in us in the way we talk, eat, pray, worship, relationship, work, play, love, discipline, resolve conflict, and just plain LIVE?
We should be more concerned with these Biblical concerns, than who wins the war of the best parental discipline and parental philosophy. I am grateful for the war. It helps me to process what might work for Nolan and what would DEFINITELY NOT work with Nolan. Ultimately God is the one that has given us our kids and made us their parents and as long as we are asking HIM to guide us in filtering the info, we are all doing a great job. Be open. Don’t choose ignorance. We can’t afford to be too tired and/or sick to not read and research all of the philosophies. There is a bigger War going on for our little ones souls and that is where us needing to preach the Gospel to them (notice I didn’t say AT them) daily is so important.
So the final question I leave you all to ponder as I will too is this: How can I preach the Gospel in a real and present way to my children today?
