Oh boy, look at those faces! I need to try to upload a video so you could enjoy the sound effects that go with these beauties! Parker’s cry is starting to evolve into the real baby cry, not the puny little newborn cry, but the put your hands over your ears kind. And Theodore, well, you know he’s 2 so he’s in the tantrum stage. We train and he repays us (me mostly) with the blood curdling screech of someone who has been attacked by a bear or hit by a truck. And then there is the “war cry” he does when Foster or Katie dare to touch something that belongs to him, or that he was playing with, or that he was about to play with. Because Theodore does not speak yet – his vocabulary of uh-oh and bubble just don’t help him communicate his anger and frustration at being told “no” or “wait”. I am a believer in training your child. Of teaching your children to listen and obey. I believe God calls us to this daunting task when he gives us the responsibility and blessing of children. One of the hardest thing in training any animal or child is consistency. And with a newborn in the house and starting to homeschool and my lack of sleep I have really been having trouble with being consistent. Really the struggle is with Foster and Katie even more than Theodore. Because their disobedience is coming from their mouth and I have been either ignoring or letting some of that slide. For example, if I say “Katie, go use the bathroom before rest time” and she comes back with “but mommy I don’t have to go pee pee” then a well-rested me would give her consequence (yes, probably a swat or two with the belt). I expect “yes mommy” or “yes ma’am” and hop to it. The same with Foster, and the bar is raised higher for him because he is older. The basic principle is disobedience = disrespect and if you are 3 and you are disobeying then you will be 13 and disrespectful. So I am trying to get back on track, be consistent again.
So if I do not train my children and then expect them to obey I am the one to blame. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” And to that I say “AMEN”!