"Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; he will also delight your soul"
How do parents end up with children they can enjoy? By correcting them. The word is instruct, train, discipline, correct.
When a parent sees a child doing something wrong, there must be correction or the child will never be a joy. The child will always be an irritant to the parent. Until that child knows how to behave in each situation and has performed the said behavior, the parent will never be able to enjoy the child.
The parent must not just correct when the behavior is wrong, there must be positive instruction about what is desired. Too often in our day there is not adequate instruction about what is desired – there is just yelling, scolding, and even hitting about not doing it right.
Parents who enjoy their children go over the proper behavior that is expected before they go into a situation rather than wait until the behavior is wrong.
The ultimate goal is that the children will be able to understand how to behave in a positive, honorable way in the parents’ eyes in all the situations that the children find themselves in.
This means that the parents’ focus is upon seeing the child demonstrate the appropriate behavior: I have talked about it, I have demonstrated it, I have asked you to demonstrate it, and I have released you to perform it in a real situation.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz