People see our family with our generally well behaved 7 children and they think we are parenting experts. Well I am here to tell you – yet again – that we are no experts. While our children may be generally well behaved, they, like us, are sinful creatures in need of a Saviour.
While experience does help, what we have realised rather early on is that every child is different – from each other and from Henson and me. And so, not only do they each present different challenges to us, we are also not able to use the same solution when they present a similar challenge to us. 🙁 Yes, there are biblical principles that we adhere to but the day-to-day applications vary from child to child and from season to season.
In other words, there is no short cut, there is no cookie-cutter solutions. Sigh. We need to continually pray for guidance. Follow the biblical principle and then ask God for wisdom on how to apply the solution to each child. And try not to compare the children with each other or with other people’s children. That should be commonsense, right? But when feeling frustrated we tend to forget 🙁
So I am here to remind myself and you : do not compare!
And do not try to force fit a solution on all the children you have or use a solution that worked on someone else’s child and use it wholesale on yours. It may work but it may not work either! Pray for wisdom and discernment, seek godly counsel and then pray some more!