It is so easy to find Scriptures in the Bible to tell us how important it is to correct our children.
"Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction will drive it far from him."
"He who spare the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."
"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope;"
"The rod of correction imparts wisdom;"
These are just a few of the verses in Proverbs that encourage us to discipline our children. There are many more that talk about children being foolish to despise correction and children being wise to heed their parents instruction.
We get so caught up in "mending the ways" of our children, that I think we sometimes forget the importance of commending the ways of our children. Proverbs 3:27 says, "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act."
Our children need to be encouraged when they do something right! How good do we feel when someone commends us for something that we did? Maybe our husbands came home and commented on the clean house. I love it when my kids comment on the supper I've made or when they thank me for something that I did for them.
We should be quick to do the same for our children. I had the chance to do that for Julia this week. Ever since Christmas, she has been sleeping on a cot mattress. She has a bed, but we've not been able to get the mattress yet. We have actually gone out several times to pick one up, but each time, something happened to prevent us from bringing one home. She has never once complained! I am so proud of the way she has responded to each of these times. She will just smile and say, "Don't worry about it, Mom. We'll get one later."
Yesterday I told her how proud I was of her Godly response. I could tell by the look on her face that it meant a lot to her for me to say that.
When we have corrected our kids over and over again for some particular attitude or action and it seems like they will never get it right, we should make sure that we commend them when they do get it right, and even more importantly, we need to commend them for other positive traits that we see in their lives.
If children always hear correction and never hear commendation, they will grow up being depressed and feeling like a failure! I want to encourage them to live their lives as unto the Lord, knowing that He is working in their lives to create a beautiful work of art!
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4 comments:
Great post. Although not a mother (yet), I'm still trying to learn from godly parents, so that Lord willing, when I'm a mother some day, I'll have a nice "portfolio" of godly parenting "tips".
And, as a child, I can say it definately feels nice to have my parents commend me. Even just the simple phrase I heard today from my dad: "Thanks for helping me with the wallpaper today" meant a lot.
What a trooper Julia is. I can only imagine the wonderful character being forged into all your kids lives by the mere fact that there are so many of them. It's more difficult, I think, to remain selfish and self centered and proud when coming from a large family. From what I see, your kids are truly evidence of that!
Great post, Bev. We all love to hear encouragement; why is so hard (or at least not as frequent) that we don't commend our own family members as much as we ought? Please repost this in a couple of months as a gentle reminder. Hye, I thought the other day of a name for your family: Bev's Bevy. Have you ever been called that?
Speaking of encouragement, I bet when you started this blog, you didn't think about it's influence on single and childless ladies. It was interesting to me that when I post this, three of your comments are from ladies who don't have kids and/or aren't even married. What an impact YOUR example is, Bev, to us! Thanks for your wisdom, I hope you're encouraged!
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