Training Your Kids Like You Train Your Hair
I know, I know, what in the world am I talking about? I have thought about this concept every time I am blow drying or curling my hair for the past few months. I have naturally curly hair and one time years ago, when discussing the issues with my hair, my hairdresser told me that the reason my hair on the top of my head was straighter than the rest of my hair was because I always used a round brush when blow drying and curling it essentially straightening it out. Since I had done that so many times, I had trained my hair how I wanted it to lay. I would say however, that most if not all of us ladies know that our hair doesn’t do the same thing every time we style it. One side is fuller than the other or one side curls differently, lays differently etc. But no matter how it wants to behave, we still attempt to style it the same way, hoping and praying it will be a “Good Hair Day”!
Thinking of this in terms of parenting, we try every day to get our kids to behave the way we want them to but how often does that happen 100% of the time? If you said NEVER, you would be right. That doesn't stop us from trying to teach them things and working with them on learning to manage their emotions, while teaching them responsibility, etc. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:6 - “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. There’s that word - Train.
The definition of the word “train” is to teach (a person or animal) a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time. As parents our goal is to train our child in a manner so that we can send them off into the world equipped with the skills and knowledge they will need to survive and be on their own. We hope they will have a family one day, a wonderful job they love and live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. We want them to trust us and trust that we are doing what is in their best interest at all times.
My aunt told me a story of a conversation between her and her boss a few years ago. Her daughter who is grown now, had gotten a derogatory mark on her citizenship one day at school. She was sort of upset about this because her daughter always got perfect for citizenship, so she was wondering what happened. She was discussing this with her boss and he asked her “Do you think you would get a perfect score everyday if I graded you on your citizenship?”. I think this is something for all of us to reflect on. We are adults and have been “trained” how to be an adult or at least we should have been. We stumble and fall and have bad days more than I am sure anyone would care to admit. Our children are watching us and modeling their behaviors based on what they see. Try to show others as much grace today as you would like to be shown and let's change what we can to help make this world a little better at least in our own circle.
