Don’t you wish you could save your kids from having to learn the hard lessons themselves? So many times I wish I could just give them my hard-earned life experience so they’d never be tempted to make these mistakes. A couple weeks ago I was doing the laundry when I heard my three year-old Danny ask, “Mommy, this like goldfish crackers?” I turned around and saw him eyeing the dog food bag. I went back to doing the laundry and a minute later he said, “Mommy, this NOT like Captain Crunch.” I said, “Gross! Did you eat the dog food.” He looked down at his toes and said, “No.” It was pretty easy to see through that answer and I asked him, “How did it taste?” He kept his eyes on the floor and said, “It not good, Mommy.”
Poor Danny! I could have told him that dog food wasn’t going to be the sweet treat he was hoping for, but this was something he just had to learn on his own.
As a mom it is so tempting to want to shield my kids from ever having to make the tough decisions. I’d rather distract them from that cookie sitting on the kitchen counter than tell them they can’t have it and then have to follow through if they don’t obey. But have I really seen their heart if I’ve just been managing their behavior with distractions instead of letting them learn? The same way God allows us to make unwise choices, sometimes I have to give my kids the freedom to learn from experiences I wish I could shield them from. And then I’ll be right there to comfort and console, or offer consequences as needed.