12 Huge Mistakes Parents Can AvoidSample

We Remove The Consequences

Your head is pounding. You’re trying to get something done, so you take a pain reliever. The next day it happens again. It’s a busy week, so you pop back another. You notice some minor congestion the next day, and a worsening headache. Instead of resting, you take another. Finally, after several days of removing symptoms, you realize that you’ve been covering up a slight cold that turned into a nasty sinus infection. Those of us who have experienced this know that while we may create temporary ease by removing the consequences of being sick, we actually increase our long-term suffering.

Consequences are like that. They can’t be dodged or fooled permanently. The sooner we face them, the smaller they are. The longer we delay them, the bigger and uglier they get. The only way to truly remove consequences is to accept them head on and allow them to do their work in us. The author of Hebrews points this out in the twelfth chapter (MSG), At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely …

So, how do we parent in a way that pays off handsomely for our children’s future? We parent for the long-term. Instead of reacting by scooping our kids out of the consequences of their actions, we lovingly allow our kids to face the reality of their decisions. In today’s video, Tim describes how we need to trade rules for equations. In other words, instead of telling our kids, “Don’t do that,” we should tell them, “If you do that, then this will happen.”

Pray: Father, are there any consequences or areas I need discipline in that I’m putting off in my own life? Will You point out ways I can parent the way You are parenting me?