This was my devotional this morning and it made me evaluate my reaction
For a daily dose of encouragement and perspective, check out Jim Daly’s blog, Daly Focus, at JimDalyBlog.com.
HELPING KIDS LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES
Sometimes successful parenting is all in how you perceive a situation. For example, do you view your kids’ mistakes as frustrations that interrupt your day? Or are they, as James Joyce called them, “a portal to discovery”?
A colleague told me the story of a mother who set the course for her son’s life simply in the way she reacted to his mistakes. One day, as a little boy, he dropped a jug of milk in the kitchen.
Seeing her son standing in a large puddle of milk, the mother could have yelled, lectured him, or pointed a stern finger in his face. Instead, she smiled and reassured him that mistakes were a part of life. After helping him clean up the mess, she suggested they fill the jug with water, so he could practice carrying it. Years later, that little boy became a scientist, who attributed much of his success to his mother’s attitude. He learned from her that mistakes were nothing to be feared because they were opportunities for learning something new.
It’s in the growing-up years that kids learn mostly through experience – that is, through mistakes. That’s why it’s important for parents to create a healthy, loving environment where kids feel safe, even in failure. It’s all a matter of perspective for you as a parent. Are your child’s mistakes a doorway to your anger? Or do you view them as an opportunity to model God’s love and help your child grow and learn something new?
Sometimes successful parenting is all in how you perceive a situation. For example, do you view your kids’ mistakes as frustrations that interrupt your day? Or are they, as James Joyce called them, “a portal to discovery”?
A colleague told me the story of a mother who set the course for her son’s life simply in the way she reacted to his mistakes. One day, as a little boy, he dropped a jug of milk in the kitchen.
Seeing her son standing in a large puddle of milk, the mother could have yelled, lectured him, or pointed a stern finger in his face. Instead, she smiled and reassured him that mistakes were a part of life. After helping him clean up the mess, she suggested they fill the jug with water, so he could practice carrying it. Years later, that little boy became a scientist, who attributed much of his success to his mother’s attitude. He learned from her that mistakes were nothing to be feared because they were opportunities for learning something new.
It’s in the growing-up years that kids learn mostly through experience – that is, through mistakes. That’s why it’s important for parents to create a healthy, loving environment where kids feel safe, even in failure. It’s all a matter of perspective for you as a parent. Are your child’s mistakes a doorway to your anger? Or do you view them as an opportunity to model God’s love and help your child grow and learn something new?
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. (1 John 4:17-18 MSG)
For a daily dose of encouragement and perspective, check out Jim Daly’s blog, Daly Focus, at JimDalyBlog.com.