Seriously... there on the sidebar...there are FIVE children there, correct?
So WHY do I keep treating them like they are one big child, going through the same phase of life?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!? UGH! This has become a frustrating point for me and yet I STILL find myself doing it almost daily. Annagail is just about the only one who gets treated as she should for her age. Everyone gets either too much expectation or too little. Really, if it is frustrating me, imagine how much it is frustrating them!
It is so sad to me when someone treats the kids like one big mass of child, instead of loving them individually for their own specific character and talents. So, I prayed that the Lord would help me find a way to show these people how NOT to do that. Instead, or maybe just first, the Lord is showing me how often I do it myself.
I need to recognize, all the time, that my Graycen is a big girl. She is mature for her age ANYWAY, so when I bridle her unnecessarily I am stifling her bright and quickly growing spirit. When I look to Ella to do things or accomplish something that I would never have asked of a solo child at that age, I need to remember that, at four yrs old, she is still a little girl that needs her Mommy a good bit.
Ohhhhhhhh, how I wish this parenting gig was easier. Really. Is this not the hardest job in the WORLD?!?!?! Just when I think I am getting past diapers and the sleepless nights, in stomps this stage, when they are all in SUCH different stages of childhood and have a wide variety of needs/developments.
The GREAT news is that this is being brought to my attention almost every time I do it now. It is almost like a voice says, "Is that a true expectation you should have of ______?". THAT tells me that the Lord is listening to me and is answering my prayer. How can I teach anyone to treat my children individually while I am still treating them as one? It is a comfort to know that, even though I being shown my sin in this, it is the Lord who is showing me. With a coach like that, how can I complain? As hard as it is, it WILL make me a better parent.
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2 comments:
What an encouraging word for me today. I always find myself expecting Ethan to do all that Elijah can. Once I remember that he's only 2 I can get so irritated with myself. It has to be one of the most challenging things to having kids so close together.
So hard to remember that sometimes. I often find myself trying to send my teenagers to bed really early with the younger kids.....
Hard to constantly remember to treat them all individually. You are not alone, but good for you for recognizing it :)
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