09 July 2012

Discipline for Sin, Not for Mistakes

I was browsing Pinterest (oh how I enjoy Pinterest!), found a pin on tips for marriage, which led me to another post on that blog about parenting & 10 Habits to Develop for Correcting Your Children. I have to be honest & say that I don't fully embrace all of the habits or everything from their blog, but this one, #4, was a good.

Discipline for sin, not for mistakes. Be sure that you have identified the sinful behavior of your child so that you can clearly point to scripture and discuss the sin. Never discipline your child for making a mistake, such as breaking a dish or spilling a drink.  That is not sin. That is an accident!  A child being annoying or embarrassing is not necessarily a sin; it might point to your own sin of neglect.  Instead, keep your eyes open for issues of the heart. Some examples might include selfishness (fighting over toys… you have two sinners), deceit, disobedience, covetousness, etc

It's not that I send Will or Sophia to time-out for spilling milk, but I think I have this mind-set that I need to "discipline" (& by that I mean show frustration & make them know that I don't like that) for every thing that isn't positive. Does that make sense? I hope that doesn't come off as me being too strict/mean. I want to be parenting from the perspecitve of what God calls of us, not just good, "moral" society, raising up good kids. I'm not sure how much this will change what goes on in our home, but it will definitely be changing my heart. I'll let you all know if I see a change.

How about you? Do you like this Habit? Do you already have this habit? or Is this as enlightening to you as it was to me? Let me know!

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