E is for Encourage

Dear Moms,
Once again we are at the finish line. This time on our subject of Discipline. The final key letter being E for ENCOURAGE. I know we touched on this on one of the other sections, but I can’t stress enough just how important Encouragement is in the area of discipline. If you remember we discipline our children to get them to change a particular behavior, that is the goal of discipline. Not to harm our children, not to blow off steam, not even to get them to stop doing things that just annoy you. Remember God says to, “TRAIN UP YOUR CHILD IN THE WAY OF THE LORD.” Loving disciplining you child teaches them to choose righteous, Godly behavior, over sin. It teaches them to be form by the principles of the Bible and how to walk in the ways of the Lord our God .Sometimes a punishment is extremely effective in changing a child’s behavior, sometimes it is not. We must do what works.
Encouraging a child can be very effective in changing a child’s behavior, especially if your child is a people pleaser. Many children are so willing to please their parents that they will do anything it takes to get their parent attention of praise. These children love encouragement, and positive attention. This is a parent’ s compliant child, usually. That is why it is a must for parents to get to know each child individually. As we said, “WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR COMPLIANT CHILD, MOST LIKELY WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU STRONG WILLED CHILD. If you child changes his behavior because of Praise and Encouragement, give them a daily dose of just that and lots of it. I promise you, your friends and neighbors will all be jealous and beg you to tell them your secret. They may even ask you to write a book on the subject. Before your head gets to swelled up, take it from me, it is the child, not necessarily the parenting skills. The secret, I can tell you , “IT IS BY THE GRACE OF GOD.” Praise still by far is my favorite form of discipline. It is always my first choice in trying to change a particular behavior. The truth is, like any thing else, it will not work with every child.
If you child is strong willed, it will require stronger measures of discipline on your part. Some strong willed children actually like the negative attention of hearing you raise your voice, or punishing them. They may be known to try to get your goat on many occasion, daily if possible. I heard a Preacher say, “THEY CAN ONLY GET YOUR GOAT IF YOU HAVE A GOAT TO GET.” Do you have a goat to get, mom. In the same way, they can only push your buttons, if you have buttons to push. Mom keep your goat and your buttons under the authority of Jesus Christ and under the control of the Holy Spirit. Not only does your child need daily encouragement, but so do you mom. You need the Encouragement that only God can give. Don’t be surprised mom if God is using encouragement in you life to change your behavior as well. God is the perfect parent and a wise parent .Let us copy our Creator. Let us be imitators of Christ. Yes, we must encourage our children daily. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it will not work, but never mom stop encouraging.
I believe that the words said to our children, help to form their self image. We want our children to have a positive self image. Use your words wisely, for once said, you cannot take them back. Words wrongly spoken, wound, sometimes they wound deep. Protect your child, do not crush their spirit. Train yourself to as James says in the Bible, “ BE QUICK TO LISTEN, SLOW TO SPEAK AND SLOW TO ANGER.” Be like the proverbs 31 Woman, “AND THE LAW OF KINDNESS WAS ON HER LIPS.”
ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER IN THE LORD,” the Bible tells you so. Mom start with those little children that God entrusted in your care to form into soldiers for the army of God.
Mom Discipline, when you break the word down one letter at a time, it doesn’t seem all that hard to do. I’ve given you some tools, have they been helpful? What would you add. E-Mail me Ellen. www.momsbestwisdom.com