Lee kindly brought home an article on potty training an older child. The advice wasn’t helpful at all, since pottytraining isn’t a power struggle for David as far as I can tell. And I don’t coddle him when I change his messy underwear. He just doesn’t care. What was encouraging was this statement “A child [...]
Filed under: Potty Training
At church last Sunday, I was trying to talk to a mother while watching my daughter run outside to the street. She still doesn’t always come when I call, and I didn’t want to deal with a discipline issue at church, so I kept getting her, bringing her back… and watching her run off again. [...]
Filed under: Obedience
Part of my concern about teaching is that the child knows what is expected of him before I discipline him for not doing it. The big question in my mind is always, “How do I know if she understands what I want?” For a number of months, I’ve occasionally asked Bethel to come. Sometimes, I [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Obedience
Here it is: “Help the mommy to see evidence that the child is about to poop.” Today after catching David before an , inspecting a large specimen spin away, and later rejoicing in the two-candy award, I asked David, “It’s a lot more fun to poop in the toilet, isn’t it?” My dear son replies, [...]
Filed under: Potty Training, Prayer
Someone gave Lee and me a childrearing book by a highly respected Christian man. We read much of it together a few nights ago. Although he states many accurate biblical truths, there were some problematic statements. The first was that patience, kindness, and mercy are not appropriate to show when justice should be meted out. [...]
Filed under: Discipleship, Mercy
Consider this verse: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. My mom told me that this is her principle for showing mercy. Inasmuch as a child demonstrates humility, she is merciful. If a child defends, hides, or minimizes his wrongdoing, she exacts the promised consequence. Let a child receive instruction well, and [...]
Filed under: Discipleship, Mercy
For reference, Bethel is 15 months old. She’s been walking for about a month. I’m not saying this is the only way to teach a child to obey, but I would like to record what we have been doing, and what we intend to do in the future. Here is my rough outline: Prerequisite: Bethel [...]
Filed under: Obedience
One of the dangers of writing or teaching on parenting is that sometimes is is easy to give the impression that I’ve got my life in control. Now the truth is, most of what I share is a huge challenge for me. That’s why I’m sharing it! The truth of God’s Word is often simple. [...]
Filed under: Mom Time
Perhaps one way that we can show mercy is how we deal with a child who comes to us with wrongdoing, as opposed to us finding it out and coming to him. In these cases, discipline has already begun, and I should not discipline as harshly as I would had I discovered the problem. For [...]
Filed under: Mercy
This morning at breakfast, David asked to be excused. I was not sitting at the table at that time, so I asked him if his cereal was all gone (not, “Are you done?”). He said yes, but when he brought the bowl by me to put it on the counter, I saw there were quite [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Lying
