No Cookie Cutter Children

"A herd approach that stuffs all children into the same mold denies God's marvelous creativity in designing each child for the things He has purposed for him/her."

~Susan Hunt




It's sometimes presumed that because I have several children, I must know quite a bit about parenting.  To some extent that's true.  In many ways it's not.

I can share with you the value of organization and of having a routine to your days. I can assure you that late potty training won't ruin your child and tell you not to worry when your daughter first writes her name and it's backwards.  I can tell you to hold on loosely to your things and expect them to get damaged and torn and broken.  I can tell you it's not a sin to use a pacifier.

I can tell you that there is no perfect curricula when it comes to homeschooling and that simple faithfulness goes a long way.  I can share with you the benefits of working together as a family and not allowing isolation to invade your home.  I can tell you that all of your instruction and training of your children must be based on God's Word.  You must speak it, think it, and live it before your children.

But, I can't offer you a step-by-step parenting program that will work with every one of your children.

Of course God gives us wisdom in His word, and we should not neglect those specific instructions.  In our home there are certain sins that have definite consequences, disobedience being one of them.  God is very clear about boundaries, and He gives us commands and not suggestions.  But training up our children in they way they should go also requires knowing their hearts.  It means having faith in God and His faithfulness and not in a system.

Systems breed arrogance and often encourage laziness.  We crave them because we want to parent on auto-pilot.  We want to be assured of an outcome instead of trusting God.

To know my children's hearts means knowing in what areas they are tempted to sin, knowing those back doors that Satan might use to encourage bondage to a specific sin.  It means noting their strengths and their weaknesses, their struggles and their gifts.  It means relating to them as individuals made in the image of God.  It means, as author Susan Hunt aptly puts it, knowing how God has "wired" them.

Knowing that each child is different keeps me humble before the face of God.  It keeps me focused on Him and not my own understanding.  It keeps me diligent to tend to their hearts and not trust in only externals.  It keeps me ever reliant on and ever amazed by His grace. 

With love,

Trisha