Hey there brothers, do you ever wonder how a father can flip an imaginary switch and get his children to tell the truth?
Maybe you’ve seen it in the neighborhood kids, or a friend’s kids, or maybe your own. The child is told to do something, often quite clearly, but then completely disregards the instruction. Zero obedience.
Why do these situations happen? Why do they think that obedience is not for them? Why do they lie so easily?
I’ll tell you why. It’s because you haven’t convinced them that you’re a safe place to be humble, while at the same time you haven’t convinced them that you’ll give them an appropriate consequence for disobeying.
Dad, it starts and ends with you.
This is really an issue of balance. When your children disobey, and you fail to effectively discipline them, you’ve taught them another lesson. You’ve taught them that you’re too lazy to get up and deal with their disobedience. You’ve taught them that your words have little, if any, value. Your actions have said, “I don’t love you enough to teach you to obey.”
But if you go overboard, and use the wrong level of discipline, then you’re teaching another lesson, especially if you discipline in anger. I make it no secret that I believe that spanking has an appropriate place in disciplining children. Even if you disagree with me, you can agree that there are times when a higher level of discipline is too much for a lesser situation.
I’m going to continue to stay clear of setting out rules or even suggestions for what level is best for a given situation. I want each father to love and care for their children enough to learn them and seek to make wise decisions. I love my kids enough to know what works for each of them; and that’s quite different for each.
Have you had those experiences where you disciplined too much for the situation? How about too little? We know, almost immediately, when those times happen. What did you do to fix the situation? If you overstepped, did you seek forgiveness? Did you humble yourself before your kid and tell them that you were sorry?
