One of the questions we ask our children is “Are you going to obey?” This question clarifies that the command is not an optional wish the parents are making, something especially important with very young children. It emphasizes that obedience is a choice, and it communicates my desire for the child to do right. Some [...]
Filed under: Obedience, Using Questions
Four links for today: The first two are by occasional commenters at As4Me. Addy writes about repetition in teaching children. I had missed the article she references, so I was thankful she shared its significance to child rearing. Jay Younts asks how we can teach our children to have an intimate relationship with God. He [...]
Filed under: Child Development, Family Devotions, Obedience
As I chopped up some onion yesterday, I thought about Bethel. She’s asking if she can continue what she’s doing, when I ask her to obey, instead of telling me, or ignoring me. She’s not bursting into tears when I tell her to do something, most of the time. We still are working on these [...]
Filed under: Introspection, Obedience
Last night we were driving back from El Paso, where Lee had some training over the weekend. There’s a border patrol stop on the way home, and the children were fascinated by the dogs that were walking by each car that stopped. We explained that they were looking for drugs. We had to explain what [...]
Filed under: Obedience
Yesterday while I was reading to the children, Bethel (age 3) was climbing on the beanbag behind me and stepping (actually jumping) on my hair. I told her to stop jumping on the beanbag, and started to finish the page I was reading, when I felt her jumping again. She was disciplined, and was told [...]
Filed under: Obedience
Laurel (16 months old) recently learned how to say no. This is actually a milestone I look forward to, because each step toward communication lessens the frustration of not being understood. Now she can tell her brother and sister to stop teasing her, she can tell me if she wants milk or juice, and she [...]
Filed under: Obedience
We’ve been talking about Philippians 4:13 off and on at our house. Today I noticed that in addition to helping them to remember that God will help them do right, this verse also causes me to think about my actions in asking them to obey. Will God help them do anything their parents ask them [...]
Filed under: Introspection, Obedience
Lately, I’ve noticed my middle child struggling with obedience. Her tendency is to respond to a command by bursting into tears and saying I don’t want to… I need help… I can’t… and so on. I’ve been trying to teach her how to respond to her emotions. One way is to teach her how to [...]
Filed under: Obedience
When I taught school, I occasionally had a student who thought I didn’t like him or her. Sometimes this conclusion was more or less correct, but what was always true in these cases was that I found myself smiling at those students significantly less than with other students. I needed to deliberately smile at these [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Obedience
I have two stories on anger today. Yesterday I was attempting to troubleshoot our computer, so I could print out a bird template for my scissor-happy children. It was moving extraordinarily slow, and I had already bypassed the “safe boot” once in hopes that a simple solution would suffice. David casually walked up and punched [...]
Filed under: Obedience
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