I want to share something with you that has really opened my eyes lately and made me think about how consistent or inconsistent I’ve been about disciplining and teaching my children. It is so important to be consistent in what you say and do!

Wednesday night we went to church service. There is a wonderful brother in our church that always has a bag of candy with him and all the kids know about!lol. So of course, every church service, our kids stop by his pew on the way to our pew, and they each get a piece of candy.  Well, normally I tell them to wait till after church to eat it, and to put it in their pockets.  Well, there have been a couple times that we got there earlier than normal, and I allowed them to go ahead and have their candy(it’s usually hard candy,, nothing messy!).  So here is a dialogue of Nboy(our 6 year old) asking if he can have his candy right then:

Nboy: “can I have my candy now, mommy?”

Me: “No, let’s wait till after church.  Put it in your pocket”

Nboy: “but why did you let us eat it before church last time?”

Me: “We were here a bit early, and it doesn’t matter what you got to do last time, what matters is that I’m telling right now to wait till after church”

Well, I don’t know that sometimes letting them have their candy before services is all that bad,,But,, it did make me think about other times that I get a bit lazy and maybe don’t discipline them for some things that I normally would. Or I tell them that they can do something, but then I change my mind because I don’t feel like dealing with it right then, or I forgot.

I’m sorry to say that I think I do this too often, and that needs to change. Children need consistency in discipline and when we tell them that they can or can’t do something. What does it say to them when we are always changing our minds?  Or when they get punished for jumping on the bed most of the time, but sometimes they don’t? Or they don’t usually get punished for jumping on the bed, but sometimes they do?

God says in His Word: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” Prov. 22:6

If we train them in Gods way, they will grow up that way. If we train them in inconsistency, then that is how they will grow up..

God also says: “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”

What kinds of things provoke children to wrath, do you think? We may think more along the lines of child abuse or not showing them love, but what about being inconsistent in disciplining and teaching? What about us not living what we are teaching them?(being hypocrites) What about us not doing the things we tell them we are going to do?

We need to take teaching and disciplining our children seriously and not get lazy about it. It definately takes discipline on our part, but if we want our kids to grow up respecting us and ultimately God, we’ve got to practice what we preach, and follow up with our word.

Well, I leave you with that thought for tonight. I definately welcome any comments or added thoughts on this subject!