Parenting

Parenting is one of the scariest things you can possibly do. I mean, seriously! We are completely responsible for the well-being of another person... their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. And one of the things that is so difficult as you watch your children grow is to see them make mistakes. You wonder "Am I being too easy on them?" and then you think "Wait, am I being too strict with them? After all, they're just children. They can't be expected to behave like adults." And then you see them do something that you do. Perhaps a bad habit that you are trying to break. For sure, the hardest part of parenting is leading by example in every area of your life.

Everyone has heard the saying "Do what I say, not what I do." But certainly that is completely opposite of how we are to parent according to the Bible. We teach our children what is acceptable by how we act and react to everything in our lives.

For me, the hardest part about parenting is being consistent. My friend said the other day that we often think our children go though fazes where they will be really good one week and difficult the next. But while certain factors definitely affect our kids (like lack of sleep or unhealthy eating habits), many times it is us as parents that can throw our kids off balance. I'll notice when I am consistent regarding discipline with the girls they behave really well. When I follow our rule of "You get a warning, but if you ignore the warning you get into trouble" my girls don't try to push the limits as much. But if we've had a crazy week, and I'm tired and I let the "little things" slide, they start pushing the limits with everything.

Kinsey is six and a half, and I love having conversations with her about stuff like this because she is so smart. One time, as I was tucking her into bed, I reminded her of the importance of being obedient and how she can always tell us if she is having a hard time with something. She told me, "I want to obey, but sometimes it is so hard! I want to do what is right, but my brain tells me to do something different."

It's hard to see your children struggle with self-control the same way that we as adults do too. There is no solution to offer them to take the struggle away. We will struggle with sin our entire lives. But praise God that he is so much better than any of the things we struggle with. He's better than the short-lived pleasure we experience when we sin. The joy we find in knowing and following him far outweighs anything this world has to offer. And the more we let this truth guide our lives, the more our children will see us lead them by example and not just by our words.

Our children's view of everything, especially their view of God, is shaped by us. What a huge responsibility! What a great privilege we have! Parenting is one of the greatest privileges we could ever have. It's one of life's greatest blessings.