Lazy Parenting

It was a number of years ago, when we had only Hannah and Elijah, when God smacked me in the face with the realization of yet another way I was falling short in my parenting. Hannah must have been 4 years old -- and Elijah 2 -- but I was doing something that showed how lazy I was.

I was parenting them "in the middle."

Instead of considering their individual needs, I was parenting both of them as 3 year olds. In lieu of focusing on Elijah's masculinity and Hannah's femininity, I was blending it together. As opposed to training them according to their unique bent (as many theologians interpret Proverbs 22:6).

I was thankful that God woke me up from this slumber. Though I do still slip back into this laziness (especially now with 3 kids), at least now I can more easily recognize my tendency to do this.

Of course, I'm lazy in a number of other ways in my parenting as well. Working on it.


Related Links:

• More on Lazy Parenting 
• I Should Be Disqualified As a Parent   
• My Son Called Me Out 
• Recommended: Shepherding A Child's Heart (the book I was reading when God opened my eyes to what I was doing)  

image courtesy of mommyof9 via sxc.hu