Consuming is just going to be part of our life just like eating is right? I don’t want my child to be obese so we put vegetables on their plates and show them what a balanced diet looks like. I also try to show them a balanced version of every other kind of consuming.
roll mental camera…
My youngest son Cade, he is 4, was at a little kids self defense class and the instructor asked him if he could make a mean face and scowled at him. Cade started crying and ran over to us because he thought the instructor was trying to get him in trouble. You see we don’t want anyone in our family making mean faces and Cade has been in time out from time to time for doing just that. My wife and I tried to hold back the laughter as we tried to explain to the instructor why he was so upset. The instructor thought he had scared the pants off of him.
You are now asking what this has to do with selfishness. Cade saw what he knew to be bad and turned away from it. It is usually pretty easy to show your kids how to act around things that are bad. But how do I show my kids how to act when you are faced with something they will have to do every day and is not really bad, like consuming?
Buy them the new Heelys but wait until you can afford 2 pair and take your son down to your local rescue mission and have him give the other pair to boy his age in need? Take your daughter to Build-A-Bear Workshop and make 2 and let her put the other one in the hands of a girl her age who could never afford one?
I would bet that the memory of the face of the person your child just helped will be burned on his or her soul for a lifetime. Every time they wear those shoes or play with that bear I would hope that vision would come back.
How else can we balance the equation?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
WHAT WOULD YOUR KIDS SAY? 3 OF 3
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5 comments:
The thing that gets me about this blog and how you have chosen to raise your kids; is how you manage to incorporate spiritual life into every lesson. I only hope that when we finally have kids we will be able to bring spiritual life into our parenting.
Thank you
Matt
In my mind's eye...I see hundreds of examples of how I can lead my kids (and myself for that matter) in this way! Thank you so much for sharing such powerful insight!
Matt- don't let me fool you we struggle every day with trying to keep them centered
Toni- thanks for reading means a lot
I like that a lot... buy two and show them how to live in a way that honors God! Awesome, that also means you have to live it in your life as well:) Yippie! Thanks for the post.
Truly inspiring bro! I'm glad you decided to start blogging, it lets me learn so much more about you and your beliefs and truly has an impact on me and the perspective in your role as a Christian and a Christian parent...keep it up!!
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