Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Why bother with Obedience Training?

So I was thinking based on my post yesterday on "Yes Mommy/Daddy", maybe some of you are wondering why even bother with training your children in obedience -- well, here are some thoughts to consider which I learned from watching the Toddler Transition DVDs series from Growing Family's International.

* Health and Safety -- by training your children in first time obedience you can keep them healthy and safe. For example, you will know that if your child starts to run for the street, you could call their name and tell them to stop and they will. Or if your child is sick and needs to take medicine, by having trained in first time obedience, your child will take his medicine without it being a battle.

* General Parenting -- how many times have your gotten frustrated by repeating over and over instructions for your children to obey? Does your blood start to boil, your voice get louder and your temper start to flare? An easy way to get rid of all those feelings is to train your child in first time obedience so you know that the first time you say something to them, they will do it. No getting frustrated, no getting angry and no raising your voice. Sounds great, doesn't it? And please don't use the "I'm counting to 3" to get your child to obey...if they obey you at 3 then they can obey you at 1...it's all in the training and your expectations.

* Stewardship -- by training in first time obedience you are teaching your child also to be gentle and respectful to things around them, like their toys and other people's things. If you are at someone's house and your child starts jumping on their couch, since you've trained in first time obedience you can say"you need to keep your feet on the floor" and know that they will obey you.

* Moral -- training in first time obedience is a moral thing to do. Remember that the Bible commands our children to obey their parents - but it's the parents job to teach them to obey! When training your child, those 3 and older need to understand the moral reasons why to obey. So start including that in your instructions for obedience.

Hope this helped briefly clarify the importance of training your child to obey. Do you have any other reasons why it is important?

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