Being there for your kids - Correction with Grace

Episode Date: May 18, 2018

When you correct your child with grace, even a mess-up can become a teachable moment that builds the relationship, rather than break it down.

Hi, I'm Dr. John Robinson, and this is Teachable Moments. I want to talk about the best kind of parenting. I call that grace-filled parenting. As you continue your parenting journey, how do you want that to go? Will it be trial and error? Just repeat how you were parented? Leave it up to somebody else. My preference is for you to fill every moment of your parenting journey, every interaction with your child with grace. Billy, you careless blanking-pilling your glass of milk again. Go get me that hickory stick. You need a whoopin. Not much, great. there. Billy was careless, but not likely on purpose. Accidents happen. Where's the grace? Cassandra, again, what's with you and milk? Can we get through one meal without you spilling something? Here, let me clean that up. Not much grace here either. Shaming is just internal punishment. Maggie, come on, don't just look at the mess. Go get paper towel. Help me clean it up. What am I going to do with you, girl? Now that's grace in action. Grace is a quality of calm understanding, a safe haven for your their storms of life. It involves gentle guidance and meaningful direction. It involves strategic firmness and clear understanding of choices, providing reward for good choices, and consequences for

bad choices. It results in a very meaningful, teachable moment. Billy's dad showed anger, power, and control, not grace. Cassandra's mom showed exasperation, burden, and frustration. Maggie's mom was purposeful but calm. She involved her daughter in the cleanup. She demonstrated meaningful consequences to Maggie's actions. After the mess was cleaned up and dinner completed, she likely sat Maggie down to go over what happened, active listener feelings, and prompt her daughter to identify ways to be more careful in the future. The responses from Billy's dad and from Cassandra's mom were about them and their feelings. The response from Maggie's mom was about Maggie, getting the mess cleaned up and making a teachable moment for her daughter. This is the heart of Grace-filled

parenting. I'm Dr. Jonathan C. Robinson, licensed clinical psychologist, and Christian author, And this has been Teachable Moments. Teachable Moments, building blocks of Christian parenting is available online at AmazonBooks.com and in local and national bookstores. More on Dr. Robinson at TMC-P-I-N-C.com.