No Birthday, Christmas or Easter for you Young Man!!!

On this day in 1952, in the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy first held a football for Charlie Brown. We all know how that story ends. Lucy tells Charlie Brown to trust her that she will hold the ball while he kicks it. Everytime he does and everytime she moves the ball. She never kept her promise.

There is severe foundational fallout when we break our word to our children. If you declare a consequence that you do not follow through on or make a promise you do not keep, you are laying the groundwork for them to have future disregard for God's promises and consequences. Consider how key believing in God's promises is to your peace and faith. How often do you not do something for fear of God's chastisement? Fear of consequences is what keeps our society civil. Without it there is a disregard for authority and a dismissal of personal responsibility for behavior.

We have to be careful that as parents we don't fall into the trap of making idle threats. In Numbers 30:2 we are warned that we must follow through with our words. Think before your speak out against a behavior. (Prov 29:20) Think about 2 things: Can I follow through with the consequence, and is the consequence proportional to the bad behavior. Natural logical consequences are also more educational than arbitrary ones. For instance, if incesant TV watching is preventing a child from getting their homework or chores done then logically no TV is the consequence, instead of no dessert for a week. Both could be productive, but one is more logically linked to the problem than the other.

The same holds true for making a promise. Don't promise something to appease your child in the moment that you are not prepared to follow through on. We mustn't train our children to disregard our words. This later becomes the foundation of distrust for God's promises and consequences.

Saying what we mean is basically teaching our children that what we say should be trustworthy. People should be able to count on our word. The first thought out of them should be, "If she said she will do it I can count on it." Modeling being an honorable person that keeps your word/promises is the first step to teaching your child that important value.

While going through the week, listen to your children as they interact with you and others. Look for opportunities to correct them if they are promising something they can't keep. While following through with any promise or consequence, be sure to remind them of the importance of being trustworthy, that they will always be able to count on you to do what you say and tell them the truth.

Brenda

Jesus the ultimate security blanket

Today is Hug a Teddy Bear Day. Most of us had them growing up, some eqivelant of the 'blankie', 'bunny' or tattered 'bear, bear' (my granddaughter's). They brought us a sense of security and comfort when needed.

We all have those moments in our lives when we need to feel secure. We need to know that someone is with us when we feel all alone; that someone is there to comfort us when we are frightened or anxious about facing something new. We want someone there to comfort us when we are feeling down.

The good news is that we have someone like that in our lives 24-7. Remind your children, and yourself, that Jesus is there whenever we need him, wherever we are, in whatever situation we find ourselves. Matthew 28:20 is so reassuring to us all. "Be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

He is the best security blanket ever.