Strong-Willed

I listened with an aggrieved heart today as I was told (by a third party) the story of a mom having trouble with her child. The child, a young lady, is in middle school. This child beat her mom up last week. The mom says that she has always given her child everything she has ever wanted in life. She can’t understand why the child has turned on her. These are always sad stories and they aren’t as uncommon as you may think. Just think, a middle school aged child essentially runs yet another house… and she does it with violence. Some children basically raise themselves; we just seek to give them good guidance. But even a slightly strong-willed child is a different story. The parents must have stronger wills than any of their children, strong willed or not. Parents are not glorified babysitters and must assume the family leadership role whether they want to or not, whether they are natural leaders or not, and whether the children like it or not. No matter how aggravating and un-peaceful it may personally be at times, the parents must parent. Otherwise, we put our kids at great risk especially in the world we live today. Society is often no help. I can’t tell you the number of parents who have been professionally advised to do whatever it takes to not upset their child. When I grew up, we did everything we could to not upset the parents!! It was healthier that way!! Look, God gave mankind a family order for a reason. We shouldn’t have children if we aren’t going to uphold our end of the deal. I understand it is hard to tell our kids no or disappoint them. But, again, our primary role is to equip them for life, not attempt to always make them be happy with us.