We're Not Raising ....

As a pastor’s wife, I have heard my share of sermon illustrations.  My children and I have our favorites from my husband’s archives.  One of my favorites is where a mother and father of young boys are out in the front yard of their home.  The mom was trying to keep their boys off of the freshly mowed lawn and was losing her “cool.”  Her husband looked her in the eye and said, “we’re not raising grass, we’re raising boys.”

There are days that I have to remember to put people in my family above the “things” that I take care of.  As we were raising our children, I found that when I saw a lot of whining and misbehavior I needed to take notice.  First, I would discipline, yell and whine about the children’s behavior to my husband.  In other words, act just like my children were acting.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe in correcting children’s behavior but sometimes another approach needed to accompany this type of correction.  What?

I needed to stop what I was doing and give these children a little attention.  I needed to quit worrying about everything I had to do around the house and just play legos, build a fort or help my daughters get the new clothes on their dolls.  Maybe I needed to stop and look at the newest American Girl Doll Catalogue that came in the mail. It was amazing, how many times this approach solved the behavior problems.

Just remember we aren’t raising…..We’re raising OUR children!