"Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." Proverbs 13:24
"Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives." Proverbs 19:18
"Don’t fail to discipline your children. They won’t die if you spank them." Proverbs 23:13
"To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child." Proverbs 29:15
"Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad." Proverbs 29:17
I've been both encouraged and saddened by seeing other families lately. I've been saddened to see friends struggle with their children daily because they are too afraid to discipline them. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's because they don't want to limit their child's freedom, maybe because they think it's cruel, maybe they are afraid of saying no. But I have realized how unhappy and indifferent these children are... Their parents just following them around, providing no direction for them. Is it that what our society has taught us -- to feel guilty for punishing kids? These kids are learning that they can get what they want if they just fight or cry or manipulate enough.
I've been encouraged by friends that discipline their kids - seeing how their kids are growing up knowing that their actions come with consequences, knowing how to apologize, and respecting their parents rather than walking all over them - it gives me motivation to raise my boys that way... I too have felt so encouraged by others that tell me it's a joy to babysit my boys. I love going to pick them up at sunday school and hearing how good they were! It's true what Proverbs 29:17 says (as above) - my heart is glad! My mind is peaceful when my kids are with other people. My boys love going to bed, they love knowing what's going to happen next in their routine, they know what's going to happen if they choose to do something bad. They aren't surprised - they are happy to know that we are paying attention. Their routine and the consistency of our discipline makes them feel secure. And I love it. I truly love my children. And I'm not going to stop disciplining them!
Nathan turned 3 on June 21, and we had a spectacular day! His birthday was on Saturday, so it worked nicely to have a party, and the day was just beautiful! We played outside on the jumpy slide, had pizza, and played with toys. Nathan wanted to have a Super-Hero birthday party, so we got some decor of different heroes, and finished off with a super cape that I sewed for each little boy. It was so cute! Nathan had his friends Trevor, Tyler, and Caleb Kucy as well as his cousin Forest. We had a great time. Here's a picture of the boys (except for Forest - hard to get boys to stand still!) with their capes - love it! Then after the other kids left, some family and adult friends came over and we pulled out the sprinkler. It was a wonderful day. We couldn't have asked for anything better!
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This is the question that gets asked every moment of the day that we aren't riding bikes! The boys are having an absolute blast riding their bikes, and we grabbed my old bike from my parents' place so I can ride too. The best part is looking at us ride all together - Pete on his unicycle, me on my bike, Nathan on his tricycle, and Zack on his bike with training wheels - 1, 2, 3, & 4 wheels all in a row! :) It's so cool. It's awesome spending so much time outside, I've missed it! If we aren't riding bikes, the activity of choice is playing with the water guns or drawing with chalk. But after the water runs out or a couple of pictures are drawn, the bikes come right back out. Nathan used to just sit on the seat and scoot his feet on the ground, but he's finally learned to pedal and it's so cute!
