I think that anyone who is raising children with the mindset of “the teacher who knows it all” and their child as “the student who knows nothing” is drastically underestimating God’s plan for parenting. I have a four-year-old girl and an 18-month-old little boy who constantly remind me that I don’t really have as much control as I like to think I do. Ok, so I know that I can punish them for not doing what I tell them to, but does that really make a lasting impression? I don’t know.
When my little girl gets in trouble for coloring on the table time and time again, there comes a point when I just have to stop leaving her alone with a marker, or take it away all together, and thus, the punishment. But how do I get her to not want to color on the table in the first place? That is the real question. This is something that haunts me on a regular basis because eventually, coloring on the table turns into telling the truth, or being nice to her brother. Then that phases into all of the challenges that come with school, middle school, and high school and before I know it, her not wanting to color on the table has turned into her not wanting to settle for a loser, or her not wanting to go to a “sleepover” with ulterior motives, or her not wanting to compromise her beliefs. How in the world can I get her to say “yes” to the things that I want for her? The things that I know that she is supposed to do. You know … help people, be nice, tell the truth, do what is right, LOVE GOD. I can’t help but see a correlation between the things I want for her and the things that God calls us to. The things that I desire for her are the same things that God desires for me, so how can I get her to want to do the things that I myself struggle with “wanting” to do?
I can tell you this…Hopefully she will know what is right because she will see her daddy live a life where he does the things that he says instead of just saying them. I know that I have to be the example. How else will she know?
Caleb Kuykendall is on staff at Cross Timbers and he loves hanging out with his wife and two kids.