Fathers, do not provoke
your children to anger; instead, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord. Ephesians
6:4
The
teeter-totter slowed until it was a perfect line, parallel to the ground. Two
boys grinned at each other across the space; then Trent jumped off. With a slam, Joe hit the
ground. And that was the end of the friendship. When the balance was off, the game
was no longer fun and the consequences were painful.
Balance
is vital in everything we do, especially parenting. God’s Instruction Book
tells us that children need both nurture and admonition. Nurturing is the fun
side of this teeter-totter. Some parents excel at nurturing: bedtime stories, playing catch, taking walks together. But they
fall short when it comes to admonition. To admonish someone is to firmly
reprimand, which usually includes an unpleasant consequence for disobedience.
Other parents excel at admonishing but fail to balance that with nurturing.
Kids need both. When we neglect admonition, kids don’t know where the
boundaries are, so they keep pushing until they find them—sometimes all the way
to the county jail. But when we neglect nurturing, our children see life as a
series of impossible commands with little reward, and they give up. When we err
on either side, we provoke our children to anger.
God parents us with both nurture and admonition.
How do you respond to the admonition?
.
