“Mommy, I want juice.”
“Not right now, dear. Mommy is busy.”
“But mommy, I am soooooo thirsty.”
“I said, not right now. I have to take care of your little brother.”
“But I want juice. Please, please, please.”
“Oh, alright. But promise me you won’t ask for anything else for awhile, Okay?”
“Yes, mommy. Thank you!”
“Okay, here is your juice.”
“But mommy, it is not in my special juice cup…”
This is an exaggerated example of a Mom who has taught her child to make announcements to get what she wants. Already, this four-year-old has learned how to control her world. Young children need to be taught that this is God’s world and that they are not in charge. Making announcements like the one above will lead to an unhappy life of attempting to control others to meet personal perceived needs.
Here is another conversation that shows the difference between making an announcement and a respect for God’s authority. These “small” moments actually are the building blocks of teaching your children to honor God’s authority. This example shows the fruit of much discipline, training, and prayer. It is attainable by God’s grace.
“Mommy, I want juice.”
“Heather, I want you to come away from the fridge and sit down in this chair. I will talk with you as soon as I am finished with your brother.”
“Yes, mommy. Please forgive me for being demanding about my juice.”
“I forgive you, sweetheart. I’ll be with you in just a minute. Thank you for responding so quickly.”
Something to think about.
3 thoughts on “Children and Announcements”
Great story. The other day we had friends over, and their 3-year-old daughter calls me mawmaw. She announced loudly Mawmaw I want some juice. I said not right now, you can have water. Again she says Mawmaw, can I have juice, again my response was no, water.
All the while I was going about my business getting us ready for supper. This happened a couple of more times when she stopped, looked at me for a couple of seconds and said, Mawmaw, can I have some water? It was priceless, the whole room broke out in laughter.
So true, when we’re tired we sometimes don’t realise the bad habits we’re getting into, may God help us 🙂
I think I tread a middle ground here – when a child demands something I remind them how we ask for the things we want and then explain my situation and tell them I will help them as soon as I can. Well, it’s what I TRY to do anyway, sometimes I cave and other times I answer them unkindly. It is helpful that my older children are old enough to do some things for themselves or help the younger ones now. Parenting is tough stuff, every day there seems to be a hundred opportunities to get it “right” or “wrong” and I just pray that God helps me get more things right than wrong, and that His grace is enough to overcome all the things I get wrong.