Sharing My Efforts to Apply God's Word to My Life as Mom. Wisdom Is the Principal Thing.
In retrospect, what is the use of thinking through hard questions like the Holy Spirit’s role in our children’s lives? For me, I was reminded this morning that God’s Wisdom doesn’t come merely from asking good questions, or even prayer alone.
Proverbs 2 tells us that wisdom comes when we seek for it, passionately, persistently. And yet, I don’t think I’ve ever made the Holy Spirit’s role a point of study. If I really want wisdom in this area, I’m going to have to study God’s Word.
One of the things that Trip, et al, do not address, is what to do when you discipline a child for disobedience (regardless of the method), and the child still does not obey.
A parent has three options:
1. Repeat the same discipline, with the same intensity.
2. Repeat the same discipline, increasing the intensity.
3. Do something else.
Number 2 in my opinion is dangerous, and a common occurrence. I’ve sensed myself falling into that trap before. The underlying thought is that if the discipline is uncomfortable enough, the child will decide to obey. If the child doesn’t obey, then it seems reasonable to increase the pressure. Only problem is, at what point does one stop the escalation of discipline? One parent my husband talked to last week had a adolescent patient who had gotten into some serious trouble. The young man’s mother asked him, “What can I do? Take away Christmas?” She was not joking. I’ll talk about the other options later.