Monday, November 16, 2009

Hiding Spot

If your child comes up to you with a sucker unwrapped and asks if he can have it, investigate where the sucker came from.

Widdle did this the other day and I told him that he may have it, but not to unwrap a sucker again before being given permission to eat it. Later I went into the play room and noticed Waddle had two suckers with gum in the middle and was clanking them together. I took them away and noticed the pumpkin full of candy, turning slightly I noticed the guitar had something sticky on it. I bent down to clean it off and noticed a whole stash of candy wrappers. I started cleaning them out and could not believe how many pieces of candy had been consumed. While digging out the wrappers Albert came in and we quickly discussed the consequences. We determined that no candy or dessert for a month was a good punishment. Does that seem harsh? Here's the list of what all I found:

tootsie roll (the long ones)
two suckers
sugar daddy
taffy wrapper
box of nerds

After eating all of this is when he asked me for another sucker! I am still a bit in shock over his genius, sneaky, manipulative, selfish, sinful depravity. He did not have to be taught how to steal and hid something that he really wanted. Thankfully he did not get sick, but he will be learning this lesson for a while.

It is easy to laugh when I think of this situation and when I tell it to others. One parenting book that I have read encourages parents to look at the heart motive or attitude behind the sin. It is easy to discipline and teach children not to take candy without asking and not to hid something that they have done that they know is wrong, the difficulty comes in trying to penetrate their hearts with the truth of the Gospel and helping them to change. Praying for their heart's desire to change and trusting God to do the changing is hard. It has been difficult for me to give up the control that I never had. So, while Widdle is learning not to steal treats and missing out on dessert, I am learning to trust Christ to change his heart and release the desire to force him to submit. I think this lesson will be life long and worth while.

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