A must read for parents!

Nice.  I appreciate Sally Clarkson.

Love Sally Clarkson!  I thought this was a good article.  I think she brought up some great points.  However, I do also beleive if a child doesn’t obey the first time, immediately,  Things could happen that could cause immense harm.  Ex. —  A child walking out into traffic around a car. maybe just ahead of a mother but enough for a driver to pull out and not see the young child. Or a child getting something off of the counter and maybe it is hot. I could list several different examples.  My children have just about let the dog outside and if it wouldn’t have been for immediate obediance I would have had a bunch of dead chickens.  I do think there is a loving way to discipline our children but if you listen to missionaries in different countries you will see that there are dangers that if their children didn’t listen right away it would be a life or death situation. I agree with Cindy that some children need a gentle persuation but I also think there is a happy balance of the two…  This is just my $ 0.02 worth on the subject but I thought I would chime in just in defense of the ” Obediance the first time movement”   or (devils advicate ) if you see it that way…

                   others???  Thoughts??? 

My favorites are Seasons of a Mother’s Heart and The Mom Walk.

And then I really, really like Heartfelt Discipline!

chocodog, I think first time obedience is paramount in situations like you describe. I tend to think that simple home’s last post is accurate, that Mrs. Clarkson was referring more to other times of expecting first-time obedience. I know I had some moments of feeling my toes were getting stepped on when readin the article (in a good way!). You know the feeling?

Anyway, I think you are right Chocodog and that the article was very insightful and challenging in a heartfelt way. One thing I’ve always used for those safety issues situations is a one-word command.

STOP works so much better than “What are you doing???” (when a child runs in a parking lot or toward a street). My DH and I have had more than one discussion over this as I have tried to explain how effective saying firmly and loudly “STOP” is versus a long string of panic-filled words.

Just what has worked for us.

I think my favorite paragraph was this one from Mrs. Clarkson:

“I just have to state at the beginning of this article that my goal was to have my children learn to obey me and to honor me quickly, from a heart that had been trained and nurtured to respond, to want to please me as a parent and to have a heart that wants to please God. Sometimes this means exerting my authority immediately to help them learn that they must learn to listen to mama. Often it meant picking them up into my arms as toddlers to quickly stop the wrong behavior and to whisper, talk to them about my expectation as their mother that they would obey. Grace-based parenting is not equal to permissiveness and lack of training or responsibility for children.”