About six months ago, I had to amp up the instruction about sharing with Caleb and Ethan. I started responding to every "That's mine!" with, "Caleb, it is not yours. Everything we have belongs to God, and he is letting us use it for a time." I went on to explain at different times that God disciplines Mommy when she is selfish and sometimes he takes things away from her so that she can remember who they really belong to, and that it is Mommy's job to discipline her children in the same way, for the same reason. After several of these explanations, Caleb really began to internalize the fact that he can't claim exclusive ownership of anything. When an occasional "That's mine!" is blurted out, I ask Caleb if he needs me to remind him that the item in question belongs to God and not to him. He almost always says "No" and adjusts his stance, though occasionally he digs in his heels and loses the toy. The funny part is that he has taken this little lesson and spread it among all of his friends. On more than one occasion I have heard him shouting to a group of friends (we're working on gentler tones) "That's NOT yours! Everything belongs to GOD!!"
Like many of the simple lessons that I take time to carefully explain to Caleb, I have been particularly convicted by this one. I find myself much quicker to share the best of what I have, and with a greater cheerfulness, now that I am holding the truth that "it all belongs to God" close to my heart.
2 comments:
Now if we can just remember that at tax time:)
I love you, Rachel! It's amazing what our kids teach us, isn't it? I am inspired by your purposeful parenting. (Now I'm off to post a not-quite-so-meaningful-as-this post about Anna's jumping and flailing limbs.)
Post a Comment