Compassionate and Gentle Discipline

Children can bring out the best and sometimes the worst in you. They challenge to your greatest depths and carry you to your greatest triumphs. You fustration and emotions can be taken to great extremes. But I know in my heart that children need to see self control in their parents. If children know they can trigger your fustration or anger than they will work to do it. They feel like they are in control of something when you allow them to control your emotions. One of the things that I don't like doing with Noah is raising my voice. It normally just makes situations worst and it doesn't exemplify a calm way of handling situations. So I am committed to trusting God to help me not to raise my voice at Noah anymore. You are much more in control of your child when you are able to institute punishments and consequences in a calm manner. When I yell at Noah normally it's because I'm trying to talk over her crying and get a point across to her. But I realize now that my getting my point across is not as productive as allowing Noah to calm down and then talking to her. In life we get in such a rush that we sometimes don't even make time to discipline our children in a way that gentle and compassionate. I know, I feel much compassion for Noah in her selfish, rebellious tendencies because I'm the same way. As a child of God, I know I give Him a hard time about stuff in my own childish way. I'm just hoping I can stop trying to compete with her crying by raising my voice.