Loving Your Children: Discipline

DAILY VITAMIN
- Loving Your Children: Discipline
"Teach a child to choose the right path, and when he is older he will remain upon it." (Proverbs 22:6 TLB)
     There's a new generation ideology that the kids are always right and that loving them means agreeing with that. But that's wrong. Kids are not always right. They are humans too, and so have a few mistakes waiting to happen - and for some others many. Because this is so accurate, truly loving them would be to lead them right, and not to play cheerleader even when they are wrong.
     Children need guidelines and a framework for discipline; and most times these aren't cozy. You see, as I noted in the previous nugget, love has many faces. Love can be kind, but it can also be cruel. Love is soft, but it can also get hard. However, love always cares; whether it is being kind, cruel, soft or hard, its primary aim is always to achieve the truth that love cares.
     Growing up in Africa, every time we made a wrong choice, we were punished. Most times even whipped. A lot of us grew up thinking our parents were mean people who hated us, but as we grew to maturity, we understood why they did it most of the times. We understood that, like a crocodile, underneath the hard and rough back the act portrays of them is a fragile and tender part. Even God subscribes to this so as to make us better persons (see Hebrews 12:5-11); and He wants us to do the same. But not as a dictator, as a guardian- correcting them with love.
     He says, "And now a word to you parents. Don't keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful. Rather, bring them up with the loving discipline the Lord himself approves, with suggestions and godly advice" (Ephesians 6:4 TLB). Just like many of us, your kids may not appreciate your acts of love in discipline today, but in due time they will be thanking you for it, because it always pays off.
     Life is a long road, and whether we like it or not we always learn that the lessons we were taught at home gave us enough experience to fight back when the real challenges surfaced. And they also will learn that in time, and thank you for it.

Prayer:
Lord, give me the strength and the grace to keep training my child in the way that pleases you. To set them on paths that encourage them to live aright and good lives, in Jesus Name. Amen.