Sweet Samantha Jean found her voice long ago. Recently she has found she can scream the word, "NO!" Saying no is fine in our house, but screaming no in close range in a fit of anger - not so much. Tim and I have been parenting the fine line of desiring Sam to know expressing anger is allowed, and yet there is a line (which she crosses) between simply expressing anger and being rude, mean and disrespectful.
It is hard for us because her vocabulary is very limited, but again she must learn there is a difference between healthy anger and unhealthy anger. (poor girl - even as i write that i am thinking i need to start saving money for her therapy bills).
Needless to say - we have started putting her in time out for yelling "NO!" in a way that isn't acceptable. At the end of a day full of such time outs I was sharing my frustration with Tim. We were talking about our strategy and then he said something that brought me to tears.
Kristi we must pray and believe the Lord can use this for good. Someday Sam may be screaming NO! with a person without power, without a voice behind her and a perpetrator of injustice in front of her.
Lord - please I pray - use Samantha's strong NO for your good. May she use this voice to advocate for those who, for whatever reason, have none. May you grow her heart for the poor, oppressed, and lonely. And please give us your wisdom to shape her into a woman who loves the things you love and hates the things you hate. amen.
4 comments:
what a sweet prayer kristi! I can only pray those same things!!
We are right there with you guys! It's hard to find the line between allowing your child to have opinions and say "no", but allowing her to learn to do it respectfully. You will make mistakes, unfortunately none of us are perfect. Matt and I always joke that it's not IF we damage our children, it's to what extent. Praise the Lord for grace!!
Amen! Well said.
You two are great parents!
Dad K
New post with pictures, please... :)
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