Are you majoring in the minors in your parenting?
Conflict is an inherent part of parenting, but some of us waste our conflict on the wrong issues. Those of us who have clean-freak and perfectionist tendencies can obsess over the wrong things with our kids, and create battlegrounds out of issues that should barely be skirmishes. We constantly push and nag about cleaning up, dressing right, eating healthy . . . and meanwhile, we’re missing the big-picture issues of character and heart. Parenting becomes one conflict after another, all day long. We are exhausted; our kids are resentful. Of course we should teach our kids good lifestyle habits, but let’s also keep in mind what’s most important: character and heart. And that means having the wisdom to choose the right battles at the right time. It means knowing when to give your kids a break for leaving a toy on the floor, or dressing like a clown-princess, or not eating their broccoli. It means finding the balance between high expectations and realistic ones, between expecting obedience, but giving grace.
Sounds a little like what God does for us, now that I think about it . . .
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