Hebrews 12:11
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
I would have to say that we have battled with Reese for a long long long time when it comes to eating. It has pretty much been from day 1. I have done what I felt was everything possible to get her to eat dinner.
going to bed
having her sit until it is finished
thinking she just doesn't like meat.....so giving her beans instead
just trying 1 bite
no treats for a week
eating it for breakfast
etc....
She is strong willed and is totally fine with not eating dinner. She is also totally fine with not having a treat and making sure her other siblings who DID eat get some sort of treat.
And why do I care so much?? Because I think it is flat out RUDE & Disrespectful to have a sour face. Because she doesn't just do it to me. And on top of that the other kids pick up on it and have been doing just the same. Needless to say I have started to HATE dinner time. I was envious of friends who kids just ate what they said or were respectful EVEN if it was something they didn't like.
A few weeks back we were at bible study. The Menu..... Roasted Pork, Soup & some vegetable. I immediately knew what was going to happen.
"mom this is yucky" "how many bites" "what is for treat" along with sitting there silent with the face of disgust. When this happens I usually will bring it up with who I am with. I guess this is a way for me to let people know that I have tried "what I felt was everything". So I started talking with Joy. I basically told her that I have tried everything and I just don't know what to do. She went on and said that if they are not doing what we ask them to do then they are being disobedient. It really hit me. This whole time it is not about eating. It is about listening to your parents and obeying them. Now I realize that we do not like everything we eat. And some kids just don't like meat. But for Reese I seriously don't think that is the issue. We have let her control us in this area. So after rapidly asking her to eat her dinner and not listening to us. We calmly took her to her room and disciplined her. We explained that this is NOT going to be a problem any more. That what she is doing is causing her to disobey mom and dad. Strangely she totally got what we were saying. That is wasn't about food it was about obeying your parents.
I have to say that dinner has been something that I now look forward to. She still asks whats for dinner, but that is not because she won't eat it. She is also being a great example to her brother and sisters and I am very grateful for that.
Praise the Lord. I am so grateful for His word that teaches us. I am thankful for the community of believers that has given me wisdom.
Reading this book. So far so good. I asked a great friend of mine if she would be willing to meet with me and tell me her secrets of organizing her home. I tell you she is fantastic....have you guessed who it is yet?? Yep she has kids.....3 of them in fact. (amy bayley is her name :) You can go to her house and it always seems in order. I have always wondered how she did it. So instead of wondering my whole life I decided to ask her for help. Before we met she wanted me to read a few chapters in this book. It really was eye opening to me. It showed me that it was so much more than "keeping a tidy home" And yes she is blessed to be organized, but I really think she is doing it for the Lord.
