“Don’t scold your children so much that they become discouraged and quit trying.” ~ Colossians 3:21
Byron watched
his 4-year-old son Liam sleep; one tiny hand crumpled under his cheek, blond curls
sticking to his damp forehead. Moments
ago, as he relaxed reading a newspaper in the den, a stifling wave of remorse engulfed
him. Guiltily he now stood by Liam’s
bedside.
Earlier at the convenience
store, Liam accidentally spilled a Slushie … everywhere. As if in slow motion, red, white, and blue goo
immediately covered the floor and merchandise far and wide, high and low.
That was the tipping point for Byron. He snarled “Now look what’s happened,” annoyance
clear in his voice. The boy started
crying and apologizing. Shaken and
ashamed, Liam bent over to pick up the now-empty cup, lost his balance, and
proceeded to fall into the middle of the colorful slime.
The child said nothing but ran across in one unpredictable
plunge, threw his arms around Byron’s neck, and hugged him with a God-like affection from his youthful heart; one which even anger could not
wither.
Byron looked down upon the angelic figure laying on the bed beside him. A terrible sickening fear came over him. “What’s wrong with me?” he wondered. “Do I have a habit of finding fault, of scolding simply because he’s a little boy? Am I gaging him by the yardstick of my own years?”
“Clearly, Liam, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. I get grumpy when I’m tired. I should never take it out on you.”
“There is so much good and fine and true in your character. Your little heart is as big as the dawn itself,
shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush over and hug me, despite my behavior.
I came to your bedside in this darkness,
and knelt here, ashamed!”
“It’s a feeble atonement; I knew you wouldn’t understand
these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will hang with you, and suffer when you
suffer and laugh when you laugh. I’ll bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep reminding myself: “You’re only a little
boy – a gift to be cherished!”
We all want our kids to be perfect. Sure, we must guide them and teach them. We can’t let everything slide, let every
misdemeanor go unnoticed and unaddressed.
Otherwise, they might never learn right from wrong.
But if we adults, with years of experience in life are
allowed to make mistakes, to act out at times, to learn and move on, then our
kids who’re going through all of this for the first time with much less
understanding of themselves to draw upon are certainly allowed some leeway.
