On yesterday, I had to talk with my son about a difficult matter. I had to really pause and not respond to him the way my emotions initially wanted me to. I paused and took a deep breath and I asked myself, is this a teaching moment or a discipline moment. I realized that the behavior he displayed was something he either saw or watched. I had to take time to think did I really teach him and give him a clear understanding of what wrong looks like and what the right behavior should be.
This may sound so simple to do for some of you, but for me it was a choice that I had to make to get out of his face and into his heart. I had to applaud my reaction because it took much grace for me to not give him what he had coming.
So what am I saying? In my opinion it’s hard to discipline what you have not taught; it’s easy to lose it on your children because you have high expectations for them. It takes more time to love and nurture them to a place of understanding.
Moms please be encouraged we all have had a knee jerk reactions to our children and the first response is not always the correct one. I recommend that you ask the Lord for guidance in every situation, Do I teach? ... Do I Discipline?
Guess what I’m not a Cookie Cutter Mom and that's OK!
Till tomorrow- Deborah Anthony
Mommy Fast Track is a place where mothers can share their various daily experiences. It provides Mothers an opportunity to vent and encourage other mothers about what you have experienced being a Mom. Feel free to send me a post for tomorrow at mommyfasttrack@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
I was blessed to be the final child of older parents (sort of a surprise). They had the wisdom in place from raising those before me. When I was wrong my mother showed me but with explanation of how to better myself. I always felt safe going to my parents because of their unconditional love. I have prayed to be the same for my children.
ReplyDeleteThis is good stuff, Deborah. This is GOD-ness for those of us raising our kids to be God-like.
ReplyDelete"...it’s hard to discipline what you have not taught; it’s easy to lose it on your children because you have high expectations for them. It takes more time to love and nurture them to a place of understanding."
I think it's also easy to lose it on our children because we have high expectations of ourselves. Sometimes when there is something in myself that I'm working on or trying to change, I often target hard that thing in my child.
Thank you for your transparency.