parenting

I was in the grocery store today and got REALLY frustrated with a Mom that was in front of me in line. She had a small 2 year old with her that she continually called to come to her. The little girl continually ran from the Mother. The Mom stood in line and talked about how bad the little girl was and how she never comes when she calls. She called and fussed the entire time, until the sentence she dropped absolutely stunned me.
Let me first preface this by saying, my thoughts were-quit yelling at the girl to come and GO GET HER. Quit griping about how she isn’t doing what you said and DISCIPLINE her. The little girl needed a spanking and a reminder of who she was to obey-NOT HERSELF!
It was in the midst of those thoughts that the Mom blurted out, “come here, or I am not giving you a quarter.” Oh Man, I almost scolded the Mom. Now, she was trying to bribe the little girl to obey. No wonder the little girl was rotten; the Mom was doing a horrible job of parenting.
We don’t teach our children to obey because there is reward. We teach them to obey out of honor, respect and love. What happens when we tell them to get out of the street because a truck is coming and there is no “reward”-no quarter waiting to get them to move? This young girl totally disregarded the Mom because she didn’t care about the reward and knew there would be no discipline, consequently giving her no respect, love or honor.
My greater concern is that by parenting this way, we give our children a wrong view of God as well. That we only have to obey when it benefits us. That we can disregard His voice and there be no discipline. The young girl needed discipline so she could learn to love and honor. Without it, she will be rotten, for sure, but she will also end up never understanding the joy of obedience.
After the woman left, (by the way she told the girl to listen to her 12 times on the way out the door.) the girl checking me out talked of how that woman was going to have a hard time with that little girl if she acted like that at 2. I agreed. But more than that, I thought if she acts like this at 2, what is she going to bribe her with at 15?
Delayed obedience is Disobedience. We don’t bribe, count or reward such, we discipline, so that our children will know the joys of obeying out of love and honor to a heavenly Father that will discipline because He loves.
ALL FOR YOU