Parental Behavior

My hubby of 29 years and I recently took a little shopping trip to Atlanta for our anniversary. We both love to bargain shop, me for about anything, him for tennis racquets. We found some great bargains, mostly Plus Size clothing for ladies and tennis racquets. You'll find them soon in my eBay store, Mimi's Discount Boutique.

Being an educator, I guess it is second nature to want to "educate." Today I have a shout out to a parent in the Marietta area. We had been to a lot of Goodwill stores and various other consignment shops and thrift stores. Unfortunately, we saw a lot of "bad parent behavior," not bad child behavior. In an attempt at control, parents (and sadly, some grandparents!) yelled at their children, threatened to call the police, yanked, pulled, or just generally ignored child behavior that did need correcting. But this one dad needs applauding. He was coming from a store and was holding his child's hand. The child evidently wanted Mom (who was back in the store.) But Dad did not yell, he used a calm voice and continued to tell the child that, "We are going to the car; we are not going back in the store," as he gently pulled the child along. The child was probably around 3-4 yrs. old. But I just loved that Dad stayed in control of himself and his child. It was wonderful!! No need for yelling and useless threats (and by the way, just an editorial comment - PLEASE, PLEASE do not threaten your child with the police, fireman, teacher, nurse, doctor, etc. - they may actually have to depend on these people for their lives one day and I would hate for them to be scared witless because of threats from their parents!!)

So here's my cudos to an in control parent - it can be done!!!

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4