Albert Anker
Discipline--that mysterious area of life where people are so passionate. To spank or not to spank, that is the question. But is it really? Seems to me that the discipline of a person is a whole life process. God has used so many different approaches in my life to discipline me.
Natural consequences--It you do something foolish, you will reap foolish consequences--speeding and getting a ticket--not God, my stupidity.
Scripture--conviction by the Holy Spirit
Training--learning all sorts of lessons through jobs, circumstances, missions, watching others and having the training of my parents or boss or friends in the midst of life
So much of life is a process and so is child training. Children at 2 are just less mature than children at 7 or 9 or 11. Parents of older children know that children will grow out of phases. Gentle instruction, training, "You may not speak this way, what is a better way to say this?" and following through. "You may not hit another child when you are frustrated, ever?" And then you isolate the child from the others and work with the child until they can apologize and ask for forgiveness." It is the patterns day in day out of correcting. loving, training, instructing, putting to bed, holding, and asking God to show us, by faith what each situation and each child needs at the moment.
Training and discipline, though, should not be foolish or irresponsible. One of my friends thought she was following Clay's philosophy in his book Heartfelt Discipline by being exceedingly lenient, and foolish, which is different from faith based parenting. "My three year old refuses to respond to my husband and always runs to me and spits on him and kicks him and I tell my husband that it is just a phase."
I was shocked. No child of ours is ever allowed to treat anyone that way, let alone a parent. We were on top of our children training, training, disciplining all the time. It was the way of life to model and instruct them in maturity.
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For more, join us at our Discipleship and Discipline e-course! I am getting excited about all the concepts God is bringing to my mind! Looking so forward to sharing with you!
