06/11/2025
Training children is not a once-and-done thing. It’s not achieved with a chore chart. It’s not consequences for bad behavior. It’s not a list of rules. It’s not lofty expectations.
It’s all of these things combined, repeatedly. Yearly, daily, hourly training. It’s teaching and training, talking and modeling, reviewing and reminding.
Training is a long-term assignment. Just as with a fruit tree, the fruit is something you wait patiently for, but if you plant, fertilize, water, and prune consistently, the fruit will come. It will be worth the work and the wait.
Children are the same. We have to invest our time, lots of time, and wait on the Lord. We teach, train, talk, love, and do it all over again. Some kids soak it up and show fruit early, while others require more training over time. (Ask me how I know?!)
Don’t get discouraged when you say the same thing everyday for what seems like eternity. And don’t expect to “Have a New Kid by Friday,” as one book promises.
Teach and train with love and patience. It will be worth it.
