Being Molded...

This week we had a caution flag waved frantically in our face. Our six year old, Mr. Dramatic took some candy and batteries from a store while he, Daddy and brother were purchasing milk. Fortunately the shoplifting was discovered right outside the doors of the store and all items were returned, but it made us wonder why he would do that!

I talked with my sage mother, Mrs. Sparks, who proffered the suggestion that perhaps we were saying "no" to his requests too often and he felt that was the only solution to get something that he wanted.

Now, by no means does that excuse his behavior and actions, but I started to think about that and replayed all the times I had said no to a request in the past week. Let's just say I couldn't remember many times when I had said yes.

I talked with Mr. Querido about it and he agreed that we needed to say yes more. To find ways of blessing our children rather than withholding simple treats. No, they do not need a treat every time they go to a store. But a something special every now and then lets them know that we think they are special too!

If God, the perfect Father, chooses to bestow blessings on us, imperfect children that we are, shouldn't we follow the example?

Our discussion hit profound depths of all aspects of our relationship with each other as well as the kids. We discovered areas that we are lacking and places where improvement is needed. So that we didn't lose sight of the goals we had set and the standards that were raised, we wrote them down!

Here is what we came up with:

I will be a good example of order and organization to my children (this one is mine to work on!)

I purpose not to be a perfectionist toward their performance of a task, but rather I will focus on their progress and celebrate each step. (this one is Mr. Querido's)

I purpose to shape my children rather than shoving them into a perfect mold (this one is both of ours)

I purpose to value them highly as God's great reward to me, rather than viewing them as interruptions and inconveniences (ouch...this one is both ours as well)

I purpose to be an excellent, not perfect but striving toward perfection in Him, reflection of Christ's character toward my children (again, a joint effort)

I purpose to cultivate a heart of willing obedience rather than compliant behavior in my children (another one we are working on together)

I purpose not to be lazy in my parenting (yep, both of us working on this one)

I purpose to parent them with love and respect (teamwork again!)

We talked about a lot of things tonight. And the best part is we really communicated, rather than just heating up the air. We heard each other's heart in the matter and we also purposed some things to each other as well.

I wanted to put down some more thoughts about some of the goals we set, but it is late and we are up early for church tomorrow. So perhaps on Monday I will delve deeper into our parental commitment.