Having clarity around the reason you’re teaching children unconditional love principles, changes everything!
Everything from the look on your face to the tone of your voice to your body language, even the ease or stress you may feel when gearing up to say something that needs to be said!
We communicate in many ways, (whether we’re conscious of it or not) and all are byproducts of our thoughts and sincere motivations!
So it makes sense that our motivations change how our kids perceive us and our role as their loving teacher, and can determine whether or not they will learn what we want them to learn from us!
So what is the difference between wanting to teach them for their sake, verses some other reason?
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!
Instead of feeling:
1 duty-bound (not a great motivator, I bombed on this hill many times myself!)
2 worried about someone judging YOU by your children’s behavior
3 fear over losing status or position or power or praise or any of the imitation love seeking that misleads us, our judgement and our behavior.
Correcting and teaching can be done 100% more effectively and lovingly when love and concern for the child and their future happiness is the core of our motivation.
Can you teach, being kind, respectful, gentle AND firm?
YES! It’s possible!
Of all the things we are learning and practicing, finding our voice as parents that incorporates these four elements is one of the most crucial things we can do!
How does your voice sound when you are kind AND firm? Don’t know? Try and find out today!
How about answering this question to help you hear yourself:
Q: Can you imagine the difference between how you would sound and look when you are teaching a child out of your sincere desire for them to become loving and responsible?
And how would you sound if you were just concerned about how their behavior looked to the neighbors?
Those are two completely different angles right?
1 the first is based on fear and focuses on YOU,
2 the second is based on faith and trust and hope and focuses on the CHILD and their well-being!
And we must remember, our first job is love gathering. (Are you telling the truth and gathering love from God and others daily so that you have love to give?Yes? Great!!)
Then, our second job is to love and teach our kids.
Let me know your thoughts on this would you?
I hope this post might serve as a mental rehearsal tool for shifting and clarifying our motivations before we speak, so that we can truly love and teach our kids today!
THIS CHALLENGE IS A GOD-GIVEN OPPORTUNITY for MOTHERS, and I can’t think of a more intense and far-reaching personal development experience than this.
In a sense, our kids can be like ‘Saviors on Mount Zion,’ because they are calling us forward to learn and stretch and conquer our “natural woman” in ways we never thought possible. (And boy, aren’t we grateful for their resilience while we’re learning!)
God bless you in your efforts to be loved, loving and responsible.
Walking with you,
