One afternoon, a young mom baked cookies to take to the PTA open house. As she left to run some last minute errands, she told her husband to not eat the cookies. She told him to tell their son to not eat any when he got home from school as well; they were for a meeting.
When mom came home the little boy was happily eating a cookie! She said, “I told your Daddy to tell you not to eat any cookies!” The little boy nodded, saying, “He DID tell me, but then I saw him eating one so I took one too.”
Kids often learn a lot more through observation than what they are taught with words. “Do as I say not as I do” is not going to inspire anything but rebellion and a callous heart.
As parents, we all make mistakes! Always be tender to the voice of the Holy Spirit and quick to back up if you find yourself out of step with Godly principals.
The most important thing we can do for our kids is show them Christ in our everyday life. We teach what we ‘know’ but our kids learn more from watching how we live.
Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.