What Really Matters

More than I want my kids to get a good education, I want them to love learning and learn how to think.

More than I want them to be smart, I want them to be obedient. Not because it makes my life easier (although, admittedly, it does), and not because it will make their life easier (although it probably will), but because in the end the only thing that matters is that they trusted and obeyed God.

(Yikes, am I even living like this is all that really matters??)

More than I want my kids to be happy, I want them to be content. No matter what their circumstances.

More than I want my kids to share and take turns, I want them to be grateful and generous.

More than I want my kids to do chores, I want them to have self-discipline.

More than I want them to get along, I want them to have self-control.

I only have so much time to directly influence my kids. I’ve found myself floundering to teach some of these abstract concepts and wishing there was some sort of curriculum or program that I could use to teach them and then I realized that they will only ever do what they see.

They say what they hear.

The irony of yelling at my 3 year-old to stop yelling at his little brother is not lost on me.

I can only change their behavior if I change mine.

I can’t expect them to be patient if I am not patient.

My kids will only be disciplined if I am disciplined.

They won’t know how to speak kindly if I do not speak kindly.

They won’t learn to be content if I am not content.

And that is so much harder than buying a curriculum or turning on an “educational show”.