Runny Noses – What I’m Reading

“When it comes to the care and feeding of children, practical neglect of them communicates a lack of love in two important ways. The first may be obvious — others look at the children in their unkempt state and rightly wonder if anyone loves them. But the second aspect of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy cycling downwards. When little children are not cared for properly, they regularly show up dirty, smelly, disheveled, and with a runny nose. In this condition, when some form of discipline is necessary, it’s easy for some parents to communicate more than love and justice in the discipline. Rather, they communicate dislike or distaste. The unloveliness of the child (which the parents created) makes it harder to love the child when they need love the most, which is at the moment of discipline. The Bible says that when a brother is to be corrected, then the one giving the correction should be spiritual (Galatians 6:1). This applies to parents — especially to parents. So in all this, it’s important for parents not to set up stumbling blocks for themselves.” (My Life for Yours, p. 109)