It seems that life with a 3 and 4 year old always keeps my husband and I talking about disciplining our children. We find ourselves talking with friends about how best to help shape our children. Of course, there is no shortage of books and opinions about how to do this! Thankfully I am not a huge information gathering and I don’t over-think things, (doing those things in this area of parenting could monopolize my life!!) but I do think it is wise to gain wisdom from people who are ahead of me in parenting and to get fresh insights and biblical reminders from parenting books at times.
One of the resources we are studying with friends right now is “Boundaries for Kids” by Cloud & Townsend. One of my action points from our last discussion was to make an “if then chart”. I realized that we are not consistent with our children in the consequences for their bad behavior. It often depends on our mood, how much time it has been since we have had a break from them, where we are at and our ‘to do’ list. This is not fair nor helpful for our children. So, in order to give ourselves some accountability in this area we gave ourselves the task of making a chart that the kids can have, but more importantly that we can have to keep us consistent in our discipline. I found a website that makes these. Check here if you are interested.
I am hopeful that has we seek wisdom and walk in the Spirit we will see improvements in the discipline of our children. I am grateful that I have the grace of Jesus to cover my shortcomings as a mother. I know that there will inevitably be ways I negatively influence my children. I pray that God will bring other people into their lives that will round them out in those areas. I praise God for His revealed Word and the blessings that He gives when we walk in line with His will.
