Not As Easy As It Looks

Just for clarification, yesterday's picture was of my sister and her fiance. They are a great looking couple!

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"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Brian and I have begun the book What the Bible Has To Say About Child Training by J. Richard Fugate. I am really excited about it. It is one of the books that was very instrumental in how my parents raised us, and now I am able to use it on my own child.

You see, I was an expert on parenting... before I became a parent. I knew what others were doing wrong with their children, what they needed to do, and how their children should respond. Then I became a parent and realized that I was now dealing with a unique person who had a personality of her own and a heart that needed to be trained and taught about the Lord. Parenting, not just having the baby but actually being a parent, is not as easy as it looks.

Many times, we look at children who are well behaved and say, "Oh, they are just good kids." But that is not the case. They were taught to be good, to be well behaved. We are all born with a natural bent towards sin, doing wrong. So when we see children who are being good, we need to recognize that there were some very diligent parents who were willing to pray for and work with them and spent time in the training and teaching of their children.


Waking up in the middle of the night to feed a hungry infant wasn't/isn't the hardest part of parenting for me, although I missed being able to sleep through the night. (In fact, since Addie has been sick this week, sleeping through the night has flown out the window. Monday into Tuesday was the first full night of sleep I had gotten in a week. Boy, did I have energy on Tuesday!) The hardest part (but also the most rewarding) is being able to train Addie in the Lord. Teaching her, sometimes correcting her, and showing her on a moment by moment basis what God wants from us is the hard part because it requires a commitment to the Lord and to her.

Making sure that I am aware when a teachable moment pops up. Being on the alert when something comes on the TV screen that I would not want imprinted in her mind. Teaching her to be kind by using her dolls (when she tosses them on the floor, we tell her that it isn't kind. She picks them up, says, "I sar," (I'm sorry), and then places them in our lap or on the floor.). When her will wants to do the opposite of what we are asking her to do, not just "Okay"ing it but stepping up and teaching obedience. These are the hardest parts of parenting. That is, if you are trying to be a proactice parent and not a reactive one.

If you have missed Kristi's posts on Shepherding A Child's Heart, I would encourage you to go on over to her blog and read them. They are absolutely incredible and really voice what we are both trying to do in the lives of our children.


The digital layout above voices in a letter to Addie what Brian and I want for her. It tells her that we are not perfect, and we may make mistakes in our parenting. But we have given her to the Lord, and He will help us to raise her to be a young woman after His heart.