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We Should Not Be Child-pleasers
By Administrator | September 26, 2005
The love that saturates our soul at the birth of our child is beyond words. For many this “love” is the beginning of a desire to please this precious little gift. We want our child to be happy, healthy and wise.
For years I have taught seminars where I make the point that we must die to ourselves and do what is right for our child. While fielding questions I will occasionally hear a parent interpret that as meaning we should create a total “child centered” world and meet every one of our child’s desires. I then try to explain that what is “best” is not always what is “desired” by the child, we should not be a child-pleaser.
The problem with being a man-pleaser, spouse-pleaser, boss-pleaser or child-pleaser is that we keep our focus in the wrong place. We should be God-pleasers. Our focus should be on Jesus Christ and His Word. That is not to say that we never end up pleasing our child or for that matter our spouse, boss, etc. But our primary focus should be on pleasing God.
If our aim is to please God, then even when we have tough choices to make, when the loving action will mean our child’s displeasure, we will not be swayed. If our aim is to please God, then the lure of the culture, the pull of “everyone will be there”, “my friends get to watch it”, etc. will not pull us off course. If our aim is to please God, then we will be focused on the genuine needs of our children rather than their “pleasure” or “happiness”.
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
Mark Strohm, Jr.
Topics: From Mark, Parenting | 1 Comment »
December 26th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
[...] I am sure there are many other areas you can “examine” such as diet, sleep times, homework schedules, chores, etc. Your job as parent is of vital importance! When you examine your parenting honestly you give honor to your children (remember you are not trying to please them – you can read about that here: We Should Not Be Child Pleasers) and understand the importance of the job God has entrusted you with! [...]