My two-year-old likes to hit. He's not mean...he just has those two-year-old defense mechanisms which are largely connected with his arms and hands.
The other day he hit his brother. I sat him in time out and said, "We do not hit." He looked at me and (in a tone that said, "DUH!") responded, "I KNOW DAT!" I walked away wondering, "Then why do you hit?"
Since then it has occurred to me that although our age may increase we are sometimes not so far from the two-year-old mentality. How often do we hear God saying, "That's not a good choice," only to respond, "I know that" even while we keep on doing the same thing? I suspect more often than we'd like to admit.
Perhaps the place I need to begin in helping my two-year-old learn to match his actions with what he knows are good choices is for me to make sure I am doing the same. Perhaps when I am doing what I know is faithful, what I know is right...perhaps then my children will be more likely to as well.
About Me
- Jill
- I am a mother and minister who can't help but ask questions about how our faith and parenting intersect with each other...in ways we realize and in many, many ways we might never think about. I also can't help but believe that we parents are the clearest glimpse of God our children have in their early lives. As overwhelming as that may be, I want to work each day to be ever more faithful to the task.
Where Are You?
1 comment:
This is so true. And it's even harder for adults, I think, because we might have a tendency to do things wrong, and not even realize it...it's become commonplace and we forget about it. We become numb to it.
Another wonderful case of children educating their parents :)
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